Genetic differentiation of water buffalo ('Bubalus bubalis') populations in China, Nepal and south-east Asia: inferences on the region of domestication of the swamp buffalo

Author(s)
Zhang, Y
Vankan, D
Zhang, Yuandan
Barker, James S F
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
Data from three published studies of genetic variation at 18 microsatellite loci in water buffalo populations in China (18 swamp type, two river type), Nepal (one wild, one domestic river, one hybrid) and south-east Asia (eight swamp, three river) were combined so as to gain a broader understanding of genetic relationships among the populations and their demographic history. Mean numbers of alleles and expected heterozygosities were significantly different among populations. Estimates of θ (a measure of population differentiation) were significant among the swamp populations for all loci and among the river populations for most loci. Differentiation among the Chinese swamp populations (which was due primarily to just one population) was much less than among the south-east Asian. The Nepal wild animals, phenotypically swamp type but genetically like river type, are significantly different from all the domestic river populations and presumably represent the ancestral 'Bubalus arnee' (possibly with some river-type introgression). Relationships among the swamp populations (DA genetic distances, principal component analysis and structure analyses) show the south-east Asian populations separated into two groups by the Chinese populations. Given these relationships and the patterns of genetic variability, we postulate that the swamp buffalo was domesticated in the region of the far south of China, northern Thailand and Indochina. Following domestication, it spread south through peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi, and north through China, and then to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.
Citation
Animal Genetics, 42(4), p. 366-377
ISSN
1365-2052
0268-9146
Link
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Title
Genetic differentiation of water buffalo ('Bubalus bubalis') populations in China, Nepal and south-east Asia: inferences on the region of domestication of the swamp buffalo
Type of document
Journal Article
Entity Type
Publication

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