Ancient Sheep Genomes Reveal Four Millennia of North European Short-Tailed Sheep in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

Sheep are among the earliest domesticated livestock species, with a wide variety of breeds present today. However, it remains unclear how far back this diversity goes, with formal documentation only dating back a few centuries. North European short-tailed (NEST) breeds are often assumed to be among the oldest domestic sheep populations, even thought to represent relicts of the earliest sheep expansions during the Neolithic period reaching Scandinavia

Keywords

sheep; ancient DNA; Baltic; breeds; domestication

Published in

Genome Biology and Evolution
2024, volume: 16, number: 6, article number: evae114
Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS

SLU Authors

• Johansson, Anna Maria

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Global goals (SDG)

SDG2 Zero hunger

UKÄ Subject classification

Genetics and Genomics
Evolutionary Biology

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evae114

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/130893