Bioscience Evidence 2025, Vol.15, No.6, 291-302 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/be 300 8.4 Analyze the detailed domestication path of water buffaloes based on ancient DNA Ancient DNA (aDNA) lets us look straight at how buffalo were first domesticated, how their groups moved around in the past, and whether they mixed with other groups in ways we can’t see in living buffalo today. When researchers sequence DNA from old buffalo bones found at archaeological sites, they can see clearly when certain genetic changes happened. They can also find buffalo lineages that no longer exist and get a better idea of how today’s domestic buffalo started (Si et al., 2024; Arshad et al., 2025). When ancient DNA research is combined with modern genomic data and archaeological evidence, key controversies regarding the independent domestication of water buffaloes, their migration paths, and the impact of human selection pressure can be resolved. Such research can also reveal the domestication bottleneck, the founder effect and the genetic consequences of historical hybridization, deepening the understanding of the current genetic diversity formation mechanism of water buffaloes. Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the two anonymous peer reviewers for their careful evaluation and valuable feedback on this manuscript. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The authors affirm that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. Reference Arshad F., Jayaraman S., Talenti A., Owen R., Mohsin M., Mansoor S., Asif M., and Prendergast J., 2025, A comprehensive water buffalo pangenome reveals extensive structural variation linked to population specific signatures of selection, bioRxiv, 14: giaf099. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.04.652079 Bian C., Luo Y., Li J., Cheng H., He F., Duan H., Ahmed Z., Lei C., and Yi K., 2024, Inference of genetic diversity, population structure, and selection signatures in Xiangxi White Buffalo of China through whole-genome resequencing, Genes, 15(11): 1450. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes15111450 Bora J., Vardhan V., Vijh R., Deshmukh A., Srinivas Y., Mungi N., Goswami S., Jhala H., Chauhan J., Kumar U., and Jhala Y., 2024, Evaluating the potential for reintroducing the endangered wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) in Kanha National Park, central India, Restoration Ecology, 32(3): e14079. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.14079 Cailipan T., Paraguas A., Cuanang A., Soliven N., Roño J., Fontanilla F., Servo E., Cao E., Fontanilla I., and Villamor L., 2023, Molecular Data and Karyotype Revealed Two Distinct Species of Domesticated Water Buffaloes in the Philippines, Philippine Journal of Science, 152(5): 1861. https://doi.org/10.56899/152.05.27 Colangelo P., Di Civita M., Bento C., Franchini P., Meyer A., Orel N., Neves L., Mulandane F., Almeida J., Senczuk G., Pilla F., and Sabatelli S., 2024, Genome-wide diversity, population structure and signatures of inbreeding in the African buffalo in Mozambique, BMC Ecology and Evolution, 24(1): 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02209-2 Curaudeau M., Rozzi R., and Hassanin A., 2021, The genome of the lowland anoa (Bubalus depressicornis) illuminates the origin of river and swamp buffalo, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 161: 107170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107170 Dai D., Si J., Jiang L., Han B., Wang K., Wang X., Yan S., Yin Y., Chen W., Mao H., Pauciullo A., Li S., Fang L., and Zhang Y., 2025, Comparative single-cell transcriptomic landscape reveals the regulatory mechanisms of lactation during selective breeding in Asian Water Buffalo, Advanced Science, 12(37): e08847. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202508847 De Jager D., Harper C., and Bloomer P., 2020, Genetic diversity, relatedness and inbreeding of ranched and fragmented Cape buffalo populations in southern Africa, PLoS ONE, 15(8): e0236717. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236717 Dutta P., Talenti A., Young R., Jayaraman S., Callaby R., Jadhav S., Dhanikachalam V., Manikandan M., Biswa B., Low W., Williams J., Cook E., Toye P., Wall E., Djikeng A., Marshall K., Archibald A., Gokhale S., Kumar S., Hume D., and Prendergast J., 2020, Whole genome analysis of water buffalo and global cattle breeds highlights convergent signatures of domestication, Nature Communications, 11(1): 4739. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18550-1 Garcia-Erill G., Jørgensen C.H.F., Muwanika V.B., Wang X., Rasmussen M.S., de Jong Y.A., Gaubert P., Olayemi A., Salmona J., Butynski T.M., Bertola L.D., Siegismund H.R., Albrechtsen A., and Heller R., 2022, Warthog genomes resolve an evolutionary conundrum and reveal introgression of disease resistance genes, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(7): msac134. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac134 Hassan A., Youssef N., El-Ghor A., and Nahas S., 2022, Mitogenome analyses of water buffalo: closeness of the genetic architecture of river buffalo and wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee) excludes swamp buffalo, Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Sciences, 53(1): 43-47. https://doi.org/10.21608/ejvs.2021.90888.1268
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==