History and genetic diversity of African sheep: Contrasting phenotypic and genomic diversity

• Published in: Animal genetics 2025-02, Vol.56 (1), p.e13488
• Main Authors: Da Silva, Anne, Ahbara, Abulgasim, Baazaoui, Imen, Jemaa, Slim Ben, Cao, Yinhong, Ciani, Elena, Dzomba, Edgar Farai, Evans, Linda, Gootwine, Elisha, Hanotte, Olivier, Harris, Laura, Li, Meng-Hua, Mastrangelo, Salvatore, Missohou, Ayao, Molotsi, Annelin, Muchadeyi, Farai C, Mwacharo, Joram M, Tallet, Gaëlle, Vernus, Pascal, Hall, Stephen J G, Lenstra, Johannes A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Africa; Animal Migration; Animals; Breeding; Gene Flow; Genetic Variation; Genotype; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Review; Sheep, Domestic - genetics
• ISSN: 0268-9146; 1365-2052; 1365-2052
• DOI: 10.1111/age.13488

Domesticated sheep have adapted to contrasting and extreme environments and continue to play important roles in local community-based economies throughout Africa. Here we review the Neolithic migrations of thin-tailed sheep and the later introductions of fat-tailed sheep into eastern Africa. According to contemporary pictorial evidence, the latter occurred in Egypt not before the Ptolemaic period (305-25 BCE). We further describe the more recent history of sheep in Egypt, the Maghreb, west and central Africa, central-east Africa, and southern Africa. We also present a comprehensive molecular survey based on the analysis of 50 K SNP genotypes for 59 African breeds contributed by several laboratories. We propose that gene flow and import of fat-tailed sheep have partially overwritten the diversity profile created by the initial migration. We found a genetic contrast between sheep north and south of the Sahara and a west-east contrast of thin- and fat-tailed sheep. There is no close relationship between African and central and east Asian fat-tailed breeds, whereas we observe within Africa only a modest effect of tail types on breed relationships.