We report for the first time the occurrence of heteroplasmy in Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix) revealed by means of two mitochondrial fragments. The possible serious biological and management implications of this exception to unilateral inheritance of mtDNA were underlined.

Papillomavirus (PV) infections may be related to anogenital lesions and cancer development in humans and several other animal species. To date, 11 different PVs have been reported in horses. Among them, a newly described PV named Equus caballus Papillomavirus Type9 (EcPV9) was thus far only reported in the semen of a stallion with penile lesions in Australia. This study reports for the first time the presence of EcPV9 in asymptomatic Italian horses. From July 2020 to January 2022, genital brush samples were collected from 209 horses with no apparent signs of neoplastic disease and no PV-associated lesions, clinically examined at the Didactic Veterinary University Hospital (OVUD) of Perugia and at the Veterinary University Hospital (OVU) of Turin. Brushes were submitted to real-time PCR targeting the EcPV9-L1 region. The first amplification targeted a region of ~116 bp, followed by the amplification and sequencing of ~533 bp of the positive samples. EcPV9-L1 DNA was found in eleven horses (5.3%), all female and mainly English Thoroughbred. Co-infection with EcPV2-L1 was found in 7 out of the 11 EcPV9-L1 positive horses (63.6%). This study contributes to the description of the prevalence of exposure or infection of EcPVs in the horse population in Italy, for which data are still limited. In this regard, here we provide a phylogenetic analysis and the completely reconstructed viral genomes of two Italian EcPV type 9 isolates, as well as four EcPV type 2 obtained from co-infected animals.

We retrieved 34 medieval ovicaprine remains, from three archaeological sites of central Italy dating to about 1000 years old, and analyzed them using mitochondrial DNA. We compared the reconstructed haplogroups with modern sheep samples from Europe and the Middle East and sequences from the literature. In modern sheep, haplogroup HA is present in countries with access to the Mediterranean and close to the domestication center, whereas it is very rare or absent in the rest of Europe. The haplogroup HB was predominant in ancient samples (90%), whereas haplogroup HA was found at 10%. Ancient haplogroups match the present distribution in modern sheep in Italy, indicating that the current proportion of HA/HB was already established in the Middle Ages and is not the result of subsequent events such as selective breeding practices.

The Cinta senese is a pig breed, highly esteemed for its meat and derived products, characterized by a black coat with a typical white “belt” and documented by scant iconography, since the 13th–14th century in Italy. A piece of pottery showing a Cinta pig was found in the Graffignano castle (Northern Latium, Italy) dated 15th–16th centuries, spurring us to investigate the diet of the inhabitants. Ancient DNA analysis was carried out on 21 pig specimens on three nuclear SNPs: (1) g.43597545C>T, on the KIT gene, informative for the identification of the Cinta senese breed; (2) rs81460129, on an intergenic region in chr. 16, which discriminates between domestic pigs and wild boars, and; (3) a SNP on the ZFY/ZFX homologous genes, to determine the sex of the individuals. Our results indicate that the Cinta senese was present in Northern Latium in Late Medieval time, although it was not the only breed, and that pigs, including Cinta, interbred with wild boars, suggesting free-range breeding for all types of pigs. Moreover, the unexpected high proportion of young females may be considered as evidence for the wealth of the family inhabiting the castle.

Cattle remains (bones and teeth) of both roman and medieval age were collected in the archaeological site of Ferento (Viterbo, Italy) with the aim of extracting and characterising nucleic acids. Procedures to minimize contamination with modern DNA and to help ancient DNA (aDNA) preservation of the archaeological remains were adopted. Different techniques to extract aDNA (like Phenol/chloroform extraction) from bovine bones were tested to identify the method that applies to the peculiar characteristics of the study site. Currently, aDNA investigation is mainly based on mtDNA, due to the ease of amplification of the small and high-copied genome and to its usefulness in evolutionary studies. Preliminary amplification of both mitochondrial and nuclear aDNA fragments from samples of Roman and medieval animals were performed and partial specific sequences of mitochondrial D-loop as well as of nuclear genes were obtained. The innovative amplification of nuclear aDNA could enable the analysis of genes involved in specific animal traits, giving insights of ancient economic and cultural uses, as well as providing information on the origin of modern livestock population