High mitochondrial diversity of domesticated goats persisted among Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor

Taylor R Hermes; Michael D Frachetti; Dmitriy Voyakin; Antonina S Yerlomaeva; Arman Z Beisenov; Paula N Doumani Dupuy; Dmitry V Papin; Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute; Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan; Jean-Luc Houle; Alexey A Tishkin; Almut Nebel; Ben Krause-Kyora; Cheryl A Makarewicz

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233333

High mitochondrial diversity of domesticated goats persisted among Bronze and Iron Age pastoralists in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor

PLoS One. 2020 May 21;15(5):e0233333. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233333. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Taylor R Hermes^{1

2}, Michael D Frachetti³, Dmitriy Voyakin^{4

5}, Antonina S Yerlomaeva⁶, Arman Z Beisenov⁶, Paula N Doumani Dupuy⁷, Dmitry V Papin^{8

9}, Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute¹⁰, Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan¹¹, Jean-Luc Houle¹², Alexey A Tishkin¹³, Almut Nebel¹⁴, Ben Krause-Kyora¹⁴, Cheryl A Makarewicz^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School "Human Development in Landscapes", Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
² Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany.
³ Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America.
⁴ Archaeological Expertise, LLC, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
⁵ International Institute for Central Asian Studies, Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
⁶ Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
⁷ School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
⁸ The Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Studies in Archaeology of Western Siberia and Altai, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia.
⁹ Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia.
¹⁰ Department of Archaeology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.
¹¹ National Museum of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
¹² Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States of America.
¹³ Department of Archaeology, Ethnography and Museology, Altai State University, Barnaul, Russia.
¹⁴ Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology, Kiel University, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany.

Abstract

Goats were initially managed in the Near East approximately 10,000 years ago and spread across Eurasia as economically productive and environmentally resilient herd animals. While the geographic origins of domesticated goats (Capra hircus) in the Near East have been long-established in the zooarchaeological record and, more recently, further revealed in ancient genomes, the precise pathways by which goats spread across Asia during the early Bronze Age (ca. 3000 to 2500 cal BC) and later remain unclear. We analyzed sequences of hypervariable region 1 and cytochrome b gene in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) of goats from archaeological sites along two proposed transmission pathways as well as geographically intermediary sites. Unexpectedly high genetic diversity was present in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (IAMC), indicated by mtDNA haplotypes representing common A lineages and rarer C and D lineages. High mtDNA diversity was also present in central Kazakhstan, while only mtDNA haplotypes of lineage A were observed from sites in the Northern Eurasian Steppe (NES). These findings suggest that herding communities living in montane ecosystems were drawing from genetically diverse goat populations, likely sourced from communities in the Iranian Plateau, that were sustained by repeated interaction and exchange. Notably, the mitochondrial genetic diversity associated with goats of the IAMC also extended into the semi-arid region of central Kazakhstan, while NES communities had goats reflecting an isolated founder population, possibly sourced via eastern Europe or the Caucasus region.

Publication types

Historical Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Agriculture / history
Animals
Animals, Domestic / genetics*
Animals, Wild / genetics
Asia
Cytochromes b / genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics*
Domestication*
Ecosystem
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Population / history
Goats / genetics*
Haplotypes
History, Ancient
Middle East
Phylogeny
Phylogeography

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial
Cytochromes b

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the doctoral fellowship of T.R.H. at the Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes” (German Research Foundation: GSC 208). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (ERC Consolidator Grant-772957/ASIAPAST held by C.A.M.). Archaeological research at Tasbas and Dali was funded by Washington University in St. Louis and the United States National Science Foundation (no. 1132090 held by P.N.D.D and M.D.F.). Archaeological research at Begash was funded by United States National Science Foundation (nos. 0211431 and 0535341 held by M.D.F.). Archaeological research at Uch-Kurbu was funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity “Improvement of researchers” qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects’ of Measure (no. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712 held by G.M.M.). Archaeological research at Zamiin-Utug was funded by Western Kentucky University (J-L.H.). This research was also supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 16-18-10033 “Formation and Evolution of the Subsistence System of the Nomadic Societies of Altai and Adjacent Territories in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Complex Reconstruction” held by A.A.T. Archaeological Expertise, LLC provided support in the form of salaries for author D.V., but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.