Data from: Genome-wide genotyping uncovers genetic profiles and history of the Russian cattle breeds

One of the most economically important areas within the Russian
agricultural sector is dairy and beef cattle farming contributing about
$11 billion to the Russian economy annually. Trade connections, selection
and breeding have resulted in the establishment of a number of breeds that
are presumably adapted to local climatic conditions. Little however is
known about the ancestry and history of Russian native cattle. To address
this question, we genotyped 274 individuals from 18 breeds bred in Russia
and compared them to 135 additional breeds from around the world that had
been genotyped previously. Our results suggest a shared ancestry between
most of the Russian cattle and European taurine breeds, apart from a few
breeds that shared ancestry with the Asian taurines. The Yakut cattle,
belonging to the latter group, was found to be the most diverged breed in
the whole combined dataset according to structure results. Haplotype
sharing further suggests that the Russian cattle can be divided into four
major clusters reflecting ancestral relations with other breeds. Herein,
we therefore shed light on to the history of Russian cattle and identified
closely related breeds to those from Russia. Our results will facilitate
future research on detecting signatures of selection in cattle genomes and
eventually inform future genetics-assisted livestock breeding programs in
Russia and in other countries.