The African introgression of Murciano Granadina goats has a Moroccan origin and displays remarkable levels of inter-individual variability.

There is evidence that Murciano Granadina (MG), the most important caprine dairy breed in Spain, has been introgressed by African goats, but the precise geographic origin of such introgression has not been identified yet. Moreover, an accurate estimate of the magnitude of this African introgression is lacking, since current estimates are based on small numbers of sampled individuals. The aim of our work was to tackle these two issues by genotyping 500 MG goats with the Goat SNP50 BeadChip and comparing their genotypes with those of reference populations from Spain (Bermeya), France (Saanen), Morocco (Barcha, Draa, Ghazalia, Noire de Atlas, Nord, Moroccan), Egypt (Barki, Oasis, Saidi), Algeria (Arabia, Makatia, M'Zabite, Kabyle), Tunisia (Tunisian native breeds) and Sudan (Desert, Nilotic, Taggar).

Identification of nonsense variants in the genomes of 15 Murciano-Granadina bucks and analysis of their segregation in parent-offspring trios.

Nonsense variants can inactivate gene function by causing the synthesis of truncated proteins or by inducing nonsense mediated decay of messenger RNAs. The occurrence of such variants in the genomes of livestock species is modulated by multiple demographic and selective factors. Even though nonsense variants can have causal effects on embryo lethality, abortions, and disease, their genomic distribution and segregation in domestic goats have not been characterized in depth yet.

Investigating the footprint of post-domestication dispersal on the diversity of modern European, African and Asian goats.

Background: Goats were domesticated in the Fertile Crescent about 10,000 years before present (YBP) and subsequently spread across Eurasia and Africa. This dispersal is expected to generate a gradient of declining genetic diversity with increasing distance from the areas of early livestock management. Previous studies have reported the existence of such genetic cline in European goat populations, but they were based on a limited number of microsatellite markers.

Population structure and identification of genomic regions associated with productive traits in five Italian beef cattle breeds.

Italy has a long history in beef production, with local breeds such as Marchigiana, Chianina, Romagnola, Maremmana, and Podolica which produce high-quality meat. Selection has improved meat production, precocity, growth ability and muscle development, but the genetic determinism of such traits is mostly unknown. Using 33K SNPs-data from young bulls (N = 4064) belonging to these five Italian breeds, we demonstrated that the Maremmana and Podolica rustic breeds are closely related, while the specialised Marchigiana, Chianina, and Romagnola breeds are more differentiated.