DNA from past livestock hold important information for today’s livestock.
In ancient China pigs were domesticated like people domesticate dogs today. The pigs were used as work animals as well as pets.
Scientists from America, Britain, Sweden and China conducted a study comparing DNA from present day pigs to those domesticated in parts of rural China 8,000 years ago and found that these pigs could solve disease problems for livestock in the future.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the ancient pigs and current livestock share a special DNA (mitochondrial DNA) that is passed down maternally. DNA was taken from the bones of the original, domesticated and wild pigs as well as from present day pigs from farms, museums and hunter’s collections.
Those findings show that is is important to preserve these species because they are resistant to various diseases that livestock on farms and ranches are not. “There’s a lot of untrapped natural diversity.. They’re a genetic reservoir for variation not present that we may some day need,” UCLA evolutionary scientist Robert Wayne said.
The pigs are still running wild in India, Taiwan and southeast Asia.
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