生物谷报道:一个国际科学家小组6月28日报告说,他们对家猫和野猫亚种进行的大规模基因分析表明,世界各地家猫的祖先都是近东地区的野猫。
美国、英国、德国、以色列等国的科学家在报告中说,近东地区(通常指地中海东部沿岸地区)的农民应该是最早开始驯养野猫的,后来这一地区的人向欧洲、美洲等其他地区迁徙,可能将驯化后的猫带在身边,才使得家猫分布到世界各地。
科学家们介绍说,现在的家猫和野猫由于高度杂交,单从外貌已很难区分开来,因此他们在研究中分析了979只不同种类家猫和野猫的基因异同。
科学家们选取了包括欧洲野猫、近东野猫、中亚野猫、南非野猫以及中国荒漠猫在内的一些野猫亚种的DNA(脱氧核糖核酸)样本,然后和家猫基因样本对比分析。结果发现,野猫亚种以及家猫按基因的差异可划分为不同的“进化枝”。其中家猫和来自近东地区的一些野猫隶属于一个“进化枝”,这表明,该地区的野猫是最早被人类驯养的猫。这些野猫的后代目前仍生活在以色列、沙特阿拉伯以及中东其他一些国家偏远的沙漠地区。
科学家们还分析发现,野猫大约从10万年前就开始被驯养,这比此前人们认为的要早。
上述研究成果将刊登在6月29日出版的新一期《科学》杂志上。(引自新华网 )
原始出处:
Published Online June 28, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1139518
Submitted on January 4, 2007
Accepted on June 18, 2007
The Near Eastern Origin of Cat Domestication
Carlos A. Driscoll 1*, Marilyn Menotti-Raymond 2, Alfred L. Roca 3, Karsten Hupe 4, Warren E. Johnson 2, Eli Geffen 5, Eric Harley 6, Miguel Delibes 7, Dominique Pontier 8, Andrew C. Kitchener 9, Nobuyuki Yamaguchi 10, Stephen J. O'Brien 2*, David Macdonald 10*
1 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA; Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
2 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
3 Laboratory of Genomic Diversity, SAIC-Frederick Inc., NCI-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
4 Jagd Einrichtungs Büro, Am Sahlbach 9a, 37170 Fürstenhagen, Germany.
5 Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel.
6 Division of Chemical Pathology, University of Cape Town, Observatory 7925, Cape Town, South Africa.
7 Department of Applied Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Avda Maria Luisa s/n Pabellón del Perú, 41013 Sevilla, Spain.
8 UMR-CNRS 5558 Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
9 Department of Geology and Zoology, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh EH1 1JF, Scotland, UK.
10 Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Carlos A. Driscoll , E-mail: driscoll@ncifcrf.gov
Stephen J. O'Brien , E-mail: obrien@ncifcrf.gov
David Macdonald , E-mail: david.macdonald@zoology.oxford.ac.uk
The world's domestic cats carry patterns of sequence variation in their genome that reflect a history of domestication and breed development. A genetic assessment of 979 domestic cats and their wild progenitors (Felis silvestris silvestris - European wildcat; F. s. lybica - Near Eastern wildcat; F. s. ornata - Central Asian wildcat; F. s. cafra - sub Saharan African wildcat; and F. s. bieti - Chinese desert cat) indicated that each wild group represents a distinctive subspecies of Felis silvestris. Further analysis revealed that cats were domesticated in the Near East, likely coincident with agricultural village development in the Fertile Crescent. Domestic cats derive from at least five founders from across this region, whose descendents were subsequently transported across the world by human assistance.