History and genetic diversity of African sheep: Contrasting phenotypic and genomic diversity
2025
Silva, Anne da | Ahbara, Abulgasim | Baazaoui, Imen | Jemaa, Slim Ben | Cao, Yinhong | Ciani, Elena | Dzomba, Edgar Farai | Evans, Linda | Gootwine, Elisha | Hanotte, Olivier | Harris, Laura | Li, Meng-Hua | Mastrangelo, Salvatore | Missohou, Ayao | Molotsi, Annelin | Muchadeyi, Farai C. | Mwacharo, Joram M. | Tallet, Gaëlle | Vernus, Pascal | Hall, Stephen J. G. | Lenstra, Johannes A. | Silva, Anne da [0000-0001-7854-6642] | Ahbara, Abulgasim [0000-0001-9926-6551] | Dzomba, Edgar Farai [0000-0001-6737-0178] | Muchadeyi, Farai C. [0000-0002-2825-5481] | Hall, Stephen J. G. [0000-0003-2666-1715] | Lenstra, Johannes A. [0000-0003-1745-7739] | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
Domesticated sheep have adapted to contrasting and extreme environments and continue to play important roles in local community-based economies throughout Africa. Here we review the Neolithic migrations of thin-tailed sheep and the later introductions of fat-tailed sheep into eastern Africa. According to contemporary pictorial evidence, the latter occurred in Egypt not before the Ptolemaic period (305-25 BCE). We further describe the more recent history of sheep in Egypt, the Maghreb, west and central Africa, central-east Africa, and southern Africa. We also present a comprehensive molecular survey based on the analysis of 50 K SNP genotypes for 59 African breeds contributed by several laboratories. We propose that gene flow and import of fat-tailed sheep have partially overwritten the diversity profile created by the initial migration. We found a genetic contrast between sheep north and south of the Sahara and a west-east contrast of thin- and fat-tailed sheep. There is no close relationship between African and central and east Asian fat-tailed breeds, whereas we observe within Africa only a modest effect of tail types on breed relationships.
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