Ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals complexity of indigenous North American turkey domestication

Although the cultural and nutritive importance of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) to precontact Native Americans and contemporary people worldwide is clear, little is known about the domestication of this bird compared to other domesticates. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of 149 turkey bones and 29 cop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2010-02, Vol.107 (7), p.2807-2812
Main Authors: Speller, Camilla F, Kemp, Brian M, Wyatt, Scott D, Monroe, Cara, Lipe, William D, Arndt, Ursula M, Yang, Dongya Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal domestication
Animal genetics
Animals
Animals, Domestic - genetics
Archaeological sites
archaeology
Base Sequence
Biological Sciences
Birds
Bone and Bones - chemistry
Bones
Breeding - methods
Breeding of animals
Cluster Analysis
Demography
DNA
DNA Primers - genetics
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
domestication
Feces - chemistry
Fossils
Founder Effect
Genetics
Geography
Haplotypes
Humans
Meleagris gallopavo
Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
Molecular Sequence Data
nucleotide sequences
Phylogeny
phylogeography
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Social Sciences
Southwestern United States
species differences
Species Specificity
Turkeys
Turkeys - genetics
Wild birds
Wildfowl
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Summary:Although the cultural and nutritive importance of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) to precontact Native Americans and contemporary people worldwide is clear, little is known about the domestication of this bird compared to other domesticates. Mitochondrial DNA analysis of 149 turkey bones and 29 coprolites from 38 archaeological sites (200 BC-AD 1800) reveals a unique domesticated breed in the precontact Southwestern United States. Phylogeographic analyses indicate that this domestic breed originated from outside the region, but rules out the South Mexican domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo) as a progenitor. A strong genetic bottleneck within the Southwest turkeys also reflects intensive human selection and breeding. This study points to at least two occurrences of turkey domestication in precontact North America and illuminates the intensity and sophistication of New World animal breeding practices.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0909724107