University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Whole-genome SNP genotyping unveils ancestral and recent introgression in wild and domestic goats After the domestication of goats around 10,000 years before the present (BP), humans transported goats far beyond the range of their wild ancestor, the bezoar goat. This brought domestic goats into contact with many wild goat species such as ibex and markhor, enabling introgression between domestic and wild goats. To investigate this, while shedding light on the taxonomic status of wild and domestic goats, we analysed genome-wide SNP data of 613 specimens from 14 taxonomic units, including Capra hircus, C. pyrenaica, C. ibex (from Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Slovenia), C. aegagrus aegagrus, C. a. cretica, C. h. dorcas, C. caucasica caucasica, C. c. severtzovi, C. c. cylindricornis, C. falconeri, C. sibirica sibirica, C. s. alaiana and C. nubiana, as well as Oreamnos americanus (mountain goat) as an outgroup. To trace gene flow between domestic and wild goats, we integrated genotype data of local goat breeds from the Alps as well as from countries such as Spain, Greece, Türkiye, Egypt, Sudan, Iran, Russia (Caucasus and Altai) and Pakistan. Our phylogenetic analyses displayed a clear separation between bezoar-type and ibex-type clades with wild goats from the Greek islands of Crete and Youra clustered within domestic goats, confirming their feral origin. Our analyses also revealed gene flow between the lineages of Caucasian tur and domestic goats that most likely occurred before or during early domestication. Within the clade of domestic goats, analyses inferred gene flow between African and Iberian goats. The detected events of introgression were consistent with previous reports and offered interesting insights into the historical relationships among domestic and wild goats. en TEXT journal article Wissenschaftlicher Artikel Articolo di rivista Text Wissenschaftlicher Artikel Text journal article Testo Articolo di rivista Mitochondrial-DNA Genetic Deiversity History Hybridiziation Origins Legacy 2024 2024 Neža Pogorevc Arsen Dotsev Maulik Upadhyay Edson Sandoval-Castellanos Elisabeth Hannemann Mojca Simčič Aglaia Antoniou Dimitris Papachristou Panagiota Koutsouli Siham Rahmatalla Gudrun Brockmann Johann Sölkner Pamela Burger Petros Lymberakis Nikos Poulakakis Iosif Bizelis Natalia Zinovieva Simon Horvat Ivica Medugorac Wiley