Nearly90pctofdomesticyakshavegeneticstructuralvariantsfromcattle:research_GuangmingOnlineLANZHOU,Sept.21(Xinhua)--ArecentresearchconductedbyChinesescientistshasfoundthatapproximately90percentofdomesticyaksexhibitfixedgeneticintrogressionofallelicstructuralvariationsderivedfromcattle.Thishybridizedintrogressionhasledtotheemergenceofanewphenotypeknownasthewhiteyak,whichischaracterizedbynovelgeneticmutationsfromsuchanintrogression."Approximately7,300yearsago,theinhabitantsoftheQinghai-TibetPlateausuccessfullydomesticatedwildyaks,markingtheoriginsofdomesticyaks,"saidLiuJianquan,aprofessorattheCollegeofEcology,LanzhouUniversity.Accordingtotheexpert,around4,000yearsago,humansdomesticatedwildaurochsinIndiaandtheFertileCrescent,whichsubsequentlygaverisetocattle.ThesecattlewerelaterintroducedtotheQinghai-TibetPlateau.Liu'sresearchteam,incollaborationwithexpertssuchasYanPing,aresearcherattheLanzhouInstituteofHusbandryandPharmaceuticalSciencesoftheChineseAcademyofAgriculturalSciences,collectedmaterialsfromvariousyakbreeds,aswellaswildyaksandotherrelatedspecies,overaspanofthreedecades.Thisextensivecollectionfacilitatedtheircomprehensivestudy.Thestudyrevealedthatnearly90percentofdomesticyakspossessgenomicstructuralvariationsthatarespecifictocattle.TheintroductionofcattletotheQinghai-TibetPlateaubyhumansresultedinhybridizationbetweendomesticyaksandcattle.Thecolor-sidedyaksacquiredcorrespondingvariantsfromcolor-sidedcattle,leadingtothedevelopmentofnewmutationsresponsiblefortheemergenceofwhiteyaks.TheresearchfindingswerepublishedonSept.19inNatureCommunications,aninternationalacademicjournal.Editor:DisclaimerTheviewsandopinionsexpressedinthisarticlearethoseoftheauthor's,GMW.cnmakesnorepresentationsastoaccuracy,suitability,orvalidityofanyinformationonthissiteandwillnotbeliableforanyerrors,omissions,ordelaysinthisinformation.