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Published March 9, 2018 | Version v1
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Data from: The palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world

Creators

  • 1. KU Leuven
  • 2. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
  • 3. French National Centre for Scientific Research
  • 4. Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
  • 5. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • 6. Institute for Advanced Study
  • 7. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
  • 8. Autonomous University of Madrid
  • 9. National History Museum of Romania, Bucharest, Romania*
  • 10. Freie Universität Berlin
  • 11. Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
  • 12. Romanian Academy
  • 13. University of Groningen
  • 14. University of Queensland
  • 15. National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
  • 16. Labex Resmed, Université Paris IV la Sorbonne, Paris, France*
  • 17. Istanbul University
  • 18. Polish Academy of Sciences
  • 19. Archéologie Alsace, ArScan, France*
  • 20. Rice University
  • 21. Natural History Museum of Geneva
  • 22. Soprintendenza Archeologia della Toscana, Firenze, Italy*

Description

The cat has long been important to human societies as a pest-control agent, object of symbolic value and companion animal, but little is known about its domestication process and early anthropogenic dispersal. Here we show, using ancient DNA analysis of geographically and temporally widespread archaeological cat remains, that both the Near Eastern and Egyptian populations of Felis silvestris lybica contributed to the gene pool of the domestic cat at different historical times. While the cat's worldwide conquest began during the Neolithic period in the Near East, its dispersal gained momentum during the Classical period, when the Egyptian cat successfully spread throughout the Old World. The expansion patterns and ranges suggest dispersal along human maritime and terrestrial routes of trade and connectivity. A coat-colour variant was found at high frequency only after the Middle Ages, suggesting that directed breeding of cats occurred later than with most other domesticated animals.

Notes

Cat mtDNA fragments
Nine ND5 gene fragments were amplified via multiplex PCR and either sequenced by NGS in bulk following the "aMPlex Torrent" workflow, or reamplified individually by nested PCR and sequenced by pyrosequencing (see Ottoni et al, 2017, Nature Ecol Evol in press). The nine sequences obtained by "aMPlex Torrent" for each specimen were concatenated using a 10 N intervening spacer. For the specimen sequences that were obtained only by pyrosequencing, the N spacer was extended to allow alignment of all sequences. The coordinates of the fragments, excluding primers, numbered according to the Felis silvestris mtDNA reference sequence (NC001700) are: Frag_7: 12918-12961; Frag_2: 13052-13102; Frag_8: 13263-13333; Frag_3: 13513-13569; Frag_4: 13746-13807; Frag_1: 13945-13980; Frag_5: 14004-14012; Frag_9: 14170-14228; Frag_6: 15071-15131.
cats_TOTAL_to_deposit_mtDNA_final.fasta
Cat Taqpep gene fragments
Three fragments allowing genotyping of the T139, D228 and W841 codons of the Taqpep genes controlling the Macquerel or Blotched Tabby coat color pattern were concatenated for each specimen using a 10 N intervening spacer. The coordinates of the fragments, excluding primers, numbered according to the Felis silvestris Taqpep gene (LOC101101437) from the genomic sequence NC018723 are: T139: 21887-21926; D228: 22154-22180; W841: 80673-80731.
cats_TOTAL_to_deposit_NUCLEAR_final.fasta

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Additional details

Related works

Is cited by
10.1038/s41559-017-0139 (DOI)