Tracking Five Millennia of Horse Management with Extensive Ancient Genome Time Series.

Horse domestication revolutionized warfare and accelerated travel, trade, and the geographic expansion of languages. Here, we present the largest DNA time series for a non-human organism to date, including genome-scale data from 149 ancient animals and 129 ancient genomes (≥1-fold coverage), 87 of which are new. This extensive dataset allows us to assess the modern legacy of past equestrian civilizations. We find that two extinct horse lineages existed during early domestication, one at the far western (Iberia) and the other at the far eastern range (Siberia) of Eurasia. None of these contributed significantly to modern diversity. We show that the influence of Persian-related horse lineages increased following the Islamic conquests in Europe and Asia. Multiple alleles associated with elite-racing, including at the MSTN "speed gene," only rose in popularity within the last millennium. Finally, the development of modern breeding impacted genetic diversity more dramatically than the previous millennia of human management.

Mendel and Darwin.

Evolution by natural selection is an explicitly genetic theory. Darwin recognized that a working theory of inheritance was central to his theory and spent much of his scientific life seeking one. The seeds of his attempt to fill this gap, his "provisional hypothesis" of pangenesis, appear in his notebooks when he was first formulating his evolutionary ideas. Darwin, in short, desperately needed Mendel. In this paper, we set Mendel's work in the context of experimental biology and animal/plant breeding of the period and review both the well-known story of possible contact between Mendel and Darwin and the actual contact between their ideas after their deaths. Mendel's contributions to evolutionary biology were fortuitous. Regardless, it is Mendel's work that completed Darwin's theory. The modern theory based on the marriage between Mendel's and Darwin's ideas as forged most comprehensively by R. A. Fisher is both Darwin's achievement and Mendel's.

A map of rice genome variation reveals the origin of cultivated rice.

Crop domestications are long-term selection experiments that have greatly advanced human civilization. The domestication of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.) ranks as one of the most important developments in history. However, its origins and domestication processes are controversial and have long been debated. Here we generate genome sequences from 446 geographically diverse accessions of the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon, the immediate ancestral progenitor of cultivated rice, and from 1,083 cultivated indica and japonica varieties to construct a comprehensive map of rice genome variation. In the search for signatures of selection, we identify 55 selective sweeps that have occurred during domestication. In-depth analyses of the domestication sweeps and genome-wide patterns reveal that Oryza sativa japonica rice was first domesticated from a specific population of O. rufipogon around the middle area of the Pearl River in southern China, and that Oryza sativa indica rice was subsequently developed from crosses between japonica rice and local wild rice as the initial cultivars spread into South East and South Asia. The domestication-associated traits are analysed through high-resolution genetic mapping. This study provides an important resource for rice breeding and an effective genomics approach for crop domestication research.

James Cossar Ewart and the Origins of the Animal Breeding Research Department in Edinburgh, 1895-1920.

In 1919 the Animal Breeding Research Department was established in Edinburgh. This Department, later renamed the Institute of Animal Genetics, forged an international reputation, eventually becoming the centrepiece of a cluster of new genetics research units and institutions in Edinburgh after the Second World War. Yet despite its significance for institutionalising animal genetics research in the UK, the origins and development of the Department have not received as much scholarly attention as its importance warrants. This paper sheds new light on Edinburgh's place in early British genetics by drawing upon recently catalogued archival sources including the papers of James Cossar Ewart, Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh between 1882 and 1927. Although presently a marginal figure in genetics historiography, Ewart established two sites for experimental animal breeding work between 1895 and 1911 and played a central role in the founding of Britain's first genetics lectureship, also in 1911. These early efforts helped to secure government funding in 1913. However, a combination of the First World War, bureaucratic problems and Ewart's personal ambitions delayed the creation of the Department and the appointment of its director by another six years. This paper charts the institutionalisation of animal breeding and genetics research in Edinburgh within the wider contexts of British genetics and agriculture in the early twentieth century.

Barbados Blackbelly: the Caribbean ovine genetic resource.

Ovine production is one of the most important activities in animal production in tropical regions. The Barbados Blackbelly, a very interesting genetic resource, particularly well adapted to a harsh home environment in the humid tropics of the Caribbean. This review concerns this breed. It comprises aspects related to the breed history and standards and most importantly its reproductive and productive performances and gastrointestinal parasite tolerance in the Caribbean, North America and Central America and their introduction and use in crossbred trials in other regions of the tropics.

Imre Festetics and the Sheep Breeders' Society of Moravia: Mendel's Forgotten "Research Network".

Contemporary science thrives on collaborative networks, but these can also be found elsewhere in the history of science in unexpected places. When Mendel turned his attention to inheritance in peas he was not an isolated monk, but rather the latest in a line of Moravian researchers and agriculturalists who had been thinking about inheritance for half a century. Many of the principles of inheritance had already been sketched out by Imre Festetics, a Hungarian sheep breeder active in Brno. Festetics, however, was ultimately hindered by the complex nature of his study traits, aspects of wool quality that we now know to be polygenic. Whether or not Mendel was aware of Festetics's ideas,both men were products of the same vibrant milieu in 19th-century Moravia that combined theory and agricultural practice to eventually uncover the rules of inheritance.

[Historic treasures of Swiss horse breeding]. / Historische Preziosen der Schweizer Pferdezucht.

INTRODUCTION: Both a mandate of the Bernese Government (1705) and statements in the Georgica Helvetica of 1706 prove that Swiss horse breeding was lucrative and of good quality at that time. However, the political turmoil at the transition from the 18th to 19th century and excessive sales to France and Italy led to a severe drop in quantity as well in quality. The exhibition of horses in Aarau in 1865 showed a wretched state of the material. In the same year, Rudolf Zangger wrote a guide for the discussion of horse breeding in Switzerland. In the following year (1866), Johann Jakob Rychner published a report on horse breeding, and a further treatise on Swiss horse breeding by Johann Heinrich Hirzel followed in 1883. These publications created good and comprehensive fundamentals, which can still be considered valid. However history shows that the results and recommendations of these analyses barely led to improvements. Todays genomics with their possibilities open up a new era of animal breeding and raise bigger demands than ever.

Un mandat du gouvernement bernois de 1705 et les explications de Georgica helvetica de 1706 nous montrent la bonne qualité et la valeur économique de l'élevage chevalin de l'époque. Les troubles politiques à la fin du 18ème siècle et les exportations d'un nombre trop élevé de chevaux vers la France et l'Italie ont eu comme conséquence une perte de la valeur génétique et une diminution du nombre des chevaux. L'exposition chevaline de Aarau en 1865 a montré un triste état de la situation. Pendant la même année, Rudolf Zangger a publié des réflexions sur l'élevage chevalin en Suisse et, une année plus tard, Johann Jakob Rychner en faisait de même. En 1883, Johann Heinrich Hirzel a fait paraître ses propositions sur l'élevage chevalin. Aujourd'hui encore, le contenu de ces publications peut être considéré comme actuel. Une rétrospective montre que ces analyses et les propositions d'améliorations n'ont eu que peu de résultats. Les possibilités actuelles de la génomique ouvrent une nouvelle ère pour l'élevage et représentent un vrai défi pour l'avenir.

The legend of the Canadian horse: genetic diversity and breed origin.

The Canadian breed of horse invokes a fascinating chapter of North American history and as such it is now a heritage breed and the national horse of Canada. The aims of this study were to determine the level of genetic diversity in the Canadian, investigate the possible foundation breeds and the role it had in the development of the US horse breeds, such as Morgan Horse. We tested a total of 981 horses by using 15 microsatellite markers. We found that Canadian horses have high values of genetic diversity indices and show no evidence of a serious loss of genetic diversity and the inbreeding coefficient was not significantly different from zero. Belgian, Percheron, Breton and Dales Pony, unlike the light French horses, may have common ancestries with the Canadian and could be important founders. However, the Shire and Clydesdale influenced the Canadian to a lesser extent than French and Belgian draft breeds. Furthermore, our finding indicated that there was no evidence of a clear relationship between Canadian and Oriental or Iberian breeds. Also, the Canadian likely contributed to the early development of the Morgan. Finally, these findings support the ancient legends of the Canadian Horse as North America's first equine breed and the foundation bloodstock to many American breeds and may help in the management and breeding program of this outstanding breed in North America.

Breeding drought-tolerant maize hybrids for the US corn-belt: discovery to product.

Germplasm, genetics, phenotyping, and selection, combined with a clear definition of product targets, are the foundation of successful hybrid maize breeding. Breeding maize hybrids with superior yield for the drought-prone regions of the US corn-belt involves integration of multiple drought-specific technologies together with all of the other technology components that comprise a successful maize hybrid breeding programme. Managed-environment technologies are used to enable scaling of precision phenotyping in appropriate drought environmental conditions to breeding programme level. Genomics and other molecular technologies are used to study trait genetic architecture. Genetic prediction methodology was used to breed for improved yield performance for drought-prone environments. This was enabled by combining precision phenotyping for drought performance with genetic understanding of the traits contributing to successful hybrids in the target drought-prone environments and the availability of molecular markers distributed across the maize genome. Advances in crop growth modelling methodology are being used to evaluate the integrated effects of multiple traits for their combined effects and evaluate drought hybrid product concepts and guide their development and evaluation. Results to date, lessons learned, and future opportunities for further improving the drought tolerance of maize for the US corn-belt are discussed.

Historical changes in population structure during rice breeding programs in the northern limits of rice cultivation.

KEY MESSAGE: The rice local population was clearly differentiated into six groups over the 100-year history of rice breeding programs in the northern limit of rice cultivation over the world. Genetic improvements in plant breeding programs in local regions have led to the development of new cultivars with specific agronomic traits under environmental conditions and generated the unique genetic structures of local populations. Understanding historical changes in genome structures and phenotypic characteristics within local populations may be useful for identifying profitable genes and/or genetic resources and the creation of new gene combinations in plant breeding programs. In the present study, historical changes were elucidated in genome structures and phenotypic characteristics during 100-year rice breeding programs in Hokkaido, the northern limit of rice cultivation in the world. We selected 63 rice cultivars to represent the historical diversity of this local population from landraces to the current breeding lines. The results of the phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that these cultivars clearly differentiated into six groups over the history of rice breeding programs. Significant differences among these groups were detected in five of the seven traits, indicating that the differentiation of the Hokkaido rice population into these groups was correlated with these phenotypic changes. These results demonstrated that breeding practices in Hokkaido have created new genetic structures for adaptability to specific environmental conditions and breeding objectives. They also provide a new strategy for rice breeding programs in which such unique genes in local populations in the world can explore the genetic potentials of the local populations.

Scandinavian mutation research in barley - a historical review.

In 1928, the Swedish geneticists Hermann Nilsson-Ehle and Åke Gustafsson started on their suggestion experiments with induced mutations using the barley crop. In 1953, at the instigation of the Swedish Government, the 'Group for Theoretical and Applied Mutation Research' was established. Its aim was to study basic research problems in order to influence and improve methods for breeding cultivated plants. The research was non-commercial, even if some mutants were of practical importance. The peaks of activities occurred during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Applying X-rays and UV-irradiation very soon the first chlorophyll mutations were obtained followed by the first viable mutations 'Erectoides'. Soon the X-ray experiments expanded with other types of irradiation such as neutrons etc. and finally with chemical mutagens, starting with mustard gas and concluding with the sodium azide. The research brought a wealth of observations of general biological importance, high increased mutation frequencies, difference in the mutation spectrum and to direct mutagenesis for specific genes. A rather large collection of morphological and physiological mutations, about 12 000 different mutant alleles, with a very broad variation were collected and incorporated into the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) Sweden. Barley, the main experimental crop has become one of the few higher plants in which biochemical genetics and molecular biological studies are now feasible. The collection is an outstanding material for mapping genes and investigating the barley genome. Several characters have been studied and analyzed in more detail and are presented in this historical review.

Multidisciplinary perspectives on banana (Musa spp.) domestication.

Original multidisciplinary research hereby clarifies the complex geodomestication pathways that generated the vast range of banana cultivars (cvs). Genetic analyses identify the wild ancestors of modern-day cvs and elucidate several key stages of domestication for different cv groups. Archaeology and linguistics shed light on the historical roles of people in the movement and cultivation of bananas from New Guinea to West Africa during the Holocene. The historical reconstruction of domestication processes is essential for breeding programs seeking to diversify and improve banana cvs for the future.

The Damara in the context of Southern Africa fat-tailed sheep breeds.

Sheep production is one of the most important activities in animal production in tropical regions. Southern Africa (SA) fat-tailed sheep such as the Afrikaner, Namaqua Afrikaner, Nguni, Persian Black Head, Tswana, Pedi, Sabi, and particularly the Damara are important animal genetic resources very well adapted to their harsh home environments. In this review, autochthonous sheep genetic resources of SA are reviewed regarding history and productive performance. A special focus is made to the most internationalized of such breeds: the Damara. The following aspects are reviewed: history, standards, productive performance in SA, and importation to Australia. Finally, a reference is made to the influence of fat-tailed sheep formation of composite breeds such as the Dorper or the Meatmaster.

[The role of Robben Island as a stock breeding station for the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope]. / Die rol van Robbeneiland as veepos in die vestiging van die Kaap van Goeie Hoop as Verversingstasie.

The universal notoriety of Robben Island as a penitentiary for political prisoners, notably in the 19th and 20th centuries, overshadows its previous historical significance established centuries ago. The Island, initially a source of seals and penguins to European mariners rounding the southern tip of Africa, and later for several other reasons, including its proximity to the Cape of Good Hope, played a pivotal role in the selection of this halfway station. The seals would provide blubber for train oil and the penguins, meat and eggs. The transhumant Peninsular Khoekhoe was to provide cattle and sheep by a barter process as before. Inconsistent access to Khoen livestock forced the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) to consider their own breeding programmes and ultimately the establishment of Free Burgers. Van Riebeeck confirmed the suitability of Robben Island for the fattening and breeding of sheep and this island made a substantial contribution to the provision of sheep and mutton to the fleets and the local community. Khoen sheep did not do well in the Table Valley in early summer and it was expected that they would thrive on the drier island. Predators and stock theft were major problems at the Cape and neither occurred on the island. It is contended that it was unlikely that the settlement at the Cape would have occurred and succeeded without Robben Island.