Traces of domestication in genomes of ancient and modern mouflons and Anatolian sheep

• Applicants: Professor Laurent Frantz, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Ivica Medugorac; Professor Dr. Joris Peters; Dr. Nadja Pöllath
• Subject Area: Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition, Animal Husbandry
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 565924798

Although it is generally assumed that sheep, one of the most important species in our economic and cultural past, were domesticated in Anatolia about 10,500 years ago and subsequently spread throughout the world, the process of domestication and differentiation is not yet fully understood. In this research proposal, whole sheep genomes (WGS) from Anatolian wild and domesticated sheep populations from modern and archaeological samples will be generated and comparatively analysed. The WGS generated here will be compared with WGS data from other published genomes and thus placed in a global context. Samples will be taken from purebred native sheep breeds (14 from Turkey, 1 from Cyprus and 1 from Armenia) and three wild populations of mouflon (Anatolia, Cyprus and Armenia) and sequenced at an average coverage of 5x and 20x. All samples from ancient sheep from Neolithic to Chalcolithic settlements in Anatolia that show sufficient amounts of endogenous DNA (>1 %) will be considered for a deeper WGS, especially those with >10 %. The current screening results suggest that the Neolithic sites of Asikli Höyük and the Chalcolithic sites of Güvercinkayası are particularly promising and that some of these samples will be sequenced at high coverage (2x-10x). The integration of the WGS data generated in this project with publicly available data should cover the time and space scales of interest as comprehensively as possible. This dataset will allow testing different demographic hypotheses related to the origin of domestication, differentiation, demographic history, global patterns of ancestry and diversity of sheep. This project will be carried out in collaboration between research institutes in Turkey and Germany, involving a coordinated selection of samples, the joint use of material, databases, bioinformatic tools and molecular genetic expertise, and the evaluation of the results. The resources currently available to the individual project partners can only be used efficiently in a bilateral collaboration, both legally and practically, in order to close current gaps in material and knowledge, to achieve a critical mass and thus to contribute to the reliable testing of important hypotheses. This will have a synergetic effect on the quality of the joint scientific results and improve the competitiveness of each individual partner. This leads us to further medium-term plans to deepen the cooperation between the institutes and create new joint research projects.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Turkey
• Partner Organisation: TÜBITAK The Scientific and Technology Research Council of Turkey
• Cooperation Partners: Professor Dr. Muhammet Kaya; Professorin Dr. Füsun Özer