The first complete mitogenomes and phylogeny of Georgian Mountain Cattle

Haplotype diversity and mechanisms of evolutionary divergence of the Georgian Mountain Breed of Bos taurus, exhibiting conjointly patterns of admixture populations, introgression, as well as possible parallel versus convergent evolution

“…Importantly, the haplogroup Q, which is likely of Near Eastern origin, has been considered to be rare in the global populations of modern taurine cattle (Bon glio et al 2010; Xia et al 2021;Cubric-Curik et al 2021). However, our study provides amplifying evidence for the growing existence of cow individuals belonging speci cally to Q1 -the sub-lineage of Q -across the GMB Khevsurian and Adjaria populations, agreeing with the early ndings (Kunelauri et al 2019;Kunelauri et al 2022). Thus, it can be suggested that the presence of Q-speci c patterns, as being the second predominant haplogroup feature revealed in GMB, is not rare at least in the Khevsurian and Adjarian populations of this breed.…”

“…Here, we show that the GMB haplotype diversity has been notably greater than previously determined in two pilot studies (Kunelauri et al 2019;Kunelauri et al 2022) that targeted a very low number of cow individuals of this breed. It is noteworthy that, for taurine cattle from Southeast Europe, the complete mitogenome nucleotide diversity (coupled with the haplotype diversity estimate being 0.9995) was found to be 0.0015, being comparable to the genome-wide nucleotide diversity estimates (0.0010-0.0020) calculated for cow populations from some of the other regions (Cubric-Curik et al 2021).…”

“…More speci cally, according to the archeozoological and genetic evidence, mainly relying on the results of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analyses, modern cattle are thought to have emerged via just two independent and geographically distinct domestication events of aurochs (Bos primigenius), both of which occurred in southwest Asia: One event is thought to have occurred in the Fertile Crescent, resulting further into modern taurine breeds of B. taurus, while the other event took place in the Indus Valley, leading to the emergence of modern zebuine breeds of its subspecies B. indicus (Loftus et al 1994 While the genetic diversity of many cow breeds from the above groups has been well characterized, there remains a signi cant lack of this information speci cally concerning the Georgian mountain breed (GMB) of B. taurus that is endemic to the Caucasus region. GMB individuals are very small in body size, with the live weight varying from 220 kg to 280 kg for mature cows, and from 270 kg to 370 kg for bulls (Kunelauri et al 2019), demonstrating a unique productivity potential, both for meat and milk as stated elsewhere (Kunelauri et al 2022). The coat color of GMB individuals re ects black, black-and-white, or red-and-white.…”

“…These ndings can be also additionally suggestive of the complex patterns of the domestication process contributing to shaping the GMB population structures in our region of Caucasus; a complexity of the domestication process, as being a phenomenon in uencing the genetic diversity and divergence of cattle populations globally, was also proposed by early studies (Achilli et al 2009 Hence, considering all the above ndings and observations, we strongly suggest that GMB could play at least some role in the evolutionary divergence and emergence of certain breeds across the B. taurus global populations. However, more extensive studies, using the DNA sequencing of complete mitogenomes with signi cantly larger sample sizes, are needed to gain more important insights into the evolution of GMB, and to unravel the origin of this breed having a unique productivity potential for both meat and milk (Kunelauri et al 2022).…”

“…The coat color of GMB individuals re ects black, black-and-white, or red-and-white. As compared with the other breeds from this region, GMB not only demonstrates stronger endurance and enhanced sustainability towards the above conditions, but also is less susceptible to impoverished food (Kunelauri et al 2022). This breed has been well adapted to the harsh climate and other conditions of the Caucasus Mountains, and to its grazing lands with slopes that sometimes reach the angle of 45 degrees (Kunelauri et al 2019).…”