RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Research article, Biological Sciences - Anthropology, Genetics Of cats and men: the paleogenetic history of the dispersal of cats in the ancient world
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 080028
DO 10.1101/080028
A1 Claudio Ottoni
A1 Wim Van Neer
A1 Bea De Cupere
A1 Julien Daligault
A1 Silvia Guimaraes
A1 Joris Peters
A1 Nikolai Spassov
A1 Mary E. Prendergast
A1 Nicole Boivin
A1 Arturo Morales
A1 Adrian Bălăşescu
A1 Cornelia Becker
A1 Norbert Benecke
A1 Adina Boronenanţ
A1 Hijlke Buitenhuis
A1 Jwana Chahoud
A1 Alison Crowther
A1 Laura Llorente
A1 Nina Manaseryan
A1 Hervé Monchot
A1 Vedat Onar
A1 Marta Osypińska
A1 Olivier Putelat
A1 Jacqueline Studer
A1 Ursula Wierer
A1 Ronny Decorte
A1 Thierry Grange
A1 Eva-Maria Geigl
YR 2016
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/10/09/080028.abstract
AB The origin and dispersal of the domestic cat remain elusive despite its importance to human societies around the world. Archaeological evidence for domestication centers in the Near East and in Egypt is contested, and genetic data on modern cats show that Felis silvestris lybica, the subspecies of wild cat inhabiting at present the Near East and Northern Africa, is the only ancestor of the domestic cat. Here we provide the first broad geographic and chronological dataset of ancient cat mtDNA sequences, drawing on archaeological specimens from across western Eurasia and northern and eastern Africa, dating from throughout the Holocene and spanning ~9,000 years. We characterized the ancient phylogeography of F. s. lybica, showing that it expanded up to southeastern Europe prior to the Neolithic, and reconstructed the subsequent movements that profoundly transformed its distribution and shaped its early cultural history. We found that maternal lineages from both the Near East and Egypt contributed to the gene pool of the domestic cat at different historical times, with the Near Eastern population providing the first major contribution during the Neolithic and the Egyptian cat spreading efficiently across the Old World during the Classical period. This expansion pattern and range suggest dispersal along maritime and terrestrial routes of trade and connectivity. Late trait selection is suggested by the first occurrence in our dataset of the major allele for blotched-tabby body marking not earlier than during the Late Middle Ages.Significance The cat has long been important to human societies as a pest-control agent, object of symbolic value, and companion animal, but little is known about its domestication process and early anthropogenic dispersal. Our DNA analyses of geographically and temporally widespread archaeological cat remains show that while the cat’s world-wide conquest began in prehistoric times, when tamed cats accompanied humans on their journeys over land and sea, it gained momentum during the Classical period, when the Egyptian cat successfully spread throughout the ancient world. The appearance of a new coat pattern at the end of the Middle Ages suggests late breeding control that might explain the semi-domestic status of the cat. This distinguishes the domestication process of cats from that of most other domesticates.