Genomic evidence of a single domestication origin for modern cattle
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J. L. Miraszek, A. Cooper, B. Llamas, K. Chen, K. J. Mitchell, A. van Loenen et al. · DOI: 10.64898/2026.11.04.764331 · Summary page
Why cover this story this week?
The cattle family tree gets a different root
Humpless taurine cattle and humped zebu have traditionally been assigned separate domestication origins. A genomic preprint challenges that account. Comparing whole genomes from cattle and wild relatives, including extinct aurochs, the researchers conclude that zebu arose through mixing between already domesticated taurine cattle and Indian aurochs, rather than through an independent domestication.
The proposed history includes an earlier contribution to Indian aurochs from a population resembling gaur or banteng. The researchers also identified selectively retained genes associated with environmental adaptation from Indian aurochs and with domestication from taurine cattle. Their interpretation makes cattle diversity a story of domestication followed by movement, interbreeding and selection. It also illustrates a broader difficulty in reconstructing origins: a population can acquire substantial wild ancestry without representing a separate domestication event.
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