The domestication of horses is a much more recent even compared to other domesticated species; horses were domesticated about 4,500 years ago, which was about 5,000 years after the domestication of other animals like cattle, pigs, and goats. Once they were domesticated, horses had a massive influence on many aspects of human behavior and society, and these animals changed communication, farming, transportation, and warfare. Horses have helped to transform and modernize human cultures. Now scientists have learned more about the genetic changes that made horses rideable.
While domesticated horses became tame in the Don-Volga steppes of eastern Europe around 4,200 years ago, one genetic change may have been crucial to this development. Researchers have now found a single mutation that may have created modern domesticated horses. The findings have been reported in Science.
In this study, the investigators assessed 255 genetic markers that characterize various traits in horses, like body shape, coat color, and behavior, in many different horse DNA samples that spanned thousands of years.
This effort showed that about 5,000 years ago, selective breeding affected a region of DNA, or locus that is linked to a gene called ZFPM1. This seems to have created behavioral changes in horses that made them more docile and easier for humans to handle.
There was also a change in another locus containing a gene called GSDMC, which has been associated with body shape, build, and spinal structure in horses. The changes created horses that were stronger, and had improved movements. This seems to have also made horses into rideable animals. The study concluded that this lone genetic change in GSDMC was essential to the development of the modern domestic horse, and was a significant contributor to “horse-based mobility.”
The researchers are interested in learning more about ZFPM1, which could be a kind of tameness gene. They also want to learn more about how multiple genes can influence individual traits and the evolution of horses.
Source: Science
