Genome-wide insights into population structure and genetic history of Tunisian local cattle using the Illumina BovineSNP50 Beadchip

Background: Tunisian local cattle populations are at risk of extinction as they were massively crossed with imported breeds. Preservation of indigenous livestock populations is important because each of them comprises a unique set of genes resulting from a local environment-driven selection that occurred over hundreds of years. The diversity and genetic structure of Tunisian local cattle populations are poorly understood. However, such information is crucial to the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. In addition, comparing the genomic structure of population sets from different parts of the world could help yield insight into their origin and history. In the present study, we provide a detailed assessment of the population structure of the three Tunisian local cattle populations using various methods, and we highlight their origin and history by investigating approximately ~38,000 SNPs in a broad panel of 878 individuals from 37 worldwide cattle breeds representative ...

背景：突尼斯本地牛群体因与进口品种大量杂交而濒临灭绝。本土家畜种群的保护至关重要，因其各自承载着一套独特的基因组合——这些基因是数百年来由当地环境驱动的选择过程的产物。目前，突尼斯本地牛群体的遗传多样性与遗传结构尚未得到充分解析，而此类信息对于遗传资源的保护及可持续利用具有关键意义。此外，对比全球不同地区种群的基因组结构，有助于揭示其起源与演化历史。本研究通过多种方法，对三个突尼斯本地牛群体的种群结构展开了详细评估；同时，通过分析涵盖全球37个代表性牛品种的878个个体样本中约38,000个单核苷酸多态性（SNP），阐明了这些本地群体的起源与历史……