BACKGROUND In the Neolithic, domestic sheep migrated into Europe and subsequently spread in westerly and northwesterly directions. Reconstruction of these migrations and subsequent genetic events requires a more detailed characterization of the current phylogeographic differentiation. RESULTS We collected 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) profiles of Balkan sheep that are currently found near the major Neolithic point of entry into Europe, and combined these data with published genotypes from southwest-Asian, Mediterranean, central-European and north-European sheep and from Asian and European mouflons. We detected clines, ancestral components and admixture by using variants of common analysis tools: geography-informative supervised principal component analysis (PCA), breed-specific admixture analysis, across-breed [Formula: see text] profiles and phylogenetic analysis of regional pools of breeds. The regional Balkan sheep populations exhibit considerable genetic overlap, but are clearly distinct from the breeds in surrounding regions. The Asian mouflon did not influence the differentiation of the European domestic sheep and is only distantly related to present-day sheep, including those from Iran where the mouflons were sampled. We demonstrate the occurrence, from southeast to northwest Europe, of a continuously increasing ancestral component of up to 20% contributed by the European mouflon, which is assumed to descend from the original Neolithic domesticates. The overall patterns indicate that the Balkan region and Italy served as post-domestication migration hubs, from which wool sheep reached Spain and north Italy with subsequent migrations northwards. The documented dispersal of Tarentine wool sheep during the Roman period may have been part of this process. Our results also reproduce the documented 18th century admixture of Spanish Merino sheep into several central-European breeds. CONCLUSIONS Our results contribute to a better understanding of the events that have created the present diversity pattern, which is relevant for the management of the genetic resources represented by the European sheep population.

中文翻译：

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通过巴尔干品种的多样性和优化的种群遗传分析工具揭示了欧洲绵羊的起源。

背景技术在新石器时代，家养绵羊移居欧洲，随后向西风和西北风传播。重建这些迁徙和随后的遗传事件需要对当前的植物学分化进行更详细的表征。结果我们收集了巴尔干羊的50 K单核苷酸多态性（SNP）图谱，这些图谱目前在新石器时代进入欧洲的主要入口点附近发现，并将这些数据与西南亚，地中海，中欧和北欧的已发表基因型相结合。羊，来自亚洲和欧洲的盘羊。我们通过使用常见分析工具的变体检测了氏族，祖先成分和混合物，这些信息包括：地理信息有监督的主成分分析（PCA），特定品种的混合物分析，跨品种[公式：参见文本]品种和区域品种库的系统发育分析。巴尔干地区绵羊种群显示出相当大的遗传重叠，但与周围地区的品种明显不同。亚洲盘羊并没有影响欧洲家羊的分化，仅与当今的羊有很远的联系，包括来自伊朗的羊。我们证明了从欧洲东南部到西北部，欧洲穆夫隆贡献了高达20％的祖先成分的持续增加，这被认为是源自新石器时代的家畜。总体格局表明，巴尔干地区和意大利是驯养后的移民中心，羊毛羊从那里到达西班牙和意大利北部，随后向北迁移。在罗马时期，有记录的塔伦丁羊毛羊的散布可能是这一过程的一部分。我们的研究结果还再现了西班牙美利奴绵羊到18个中欧品种中的文献记载。结论我们的结果有助于更好地理解造成当前多样性模式的事件，这与欧洲绵羊种群所代表的遗传资源的管理有关。