Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Tracking the temporal and geographic origins of modern domestic horses

Descripción del proyecto

Desvelar los misterios de la domesticación del caballo

La domesticación del caballo marcó el curso de la historia de la humanidad, ya que revolucionó el transporte, el comercio, la guerra y la agricultura. Sin embargo, los mecanismos que subyacen a esta evolución siguen rodeados de misterio. La reciente secuenciación del genoma ha revelado que los restos arqueológicos más antiguos de caballos domésticos no se corresponden con los antepasados de los equinos actuales. En cambio, parece que una misteriosa oleada de domesticación acaecida en la Edad de Bronce temprana puede estar detrás del origen al caballo moderno. En el proyecto EARLYRIDERS, que cuenta con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, se identificarán los orígenes geográficos y temporales de la domesticación del caballo moderno. Su equipo secuenciará más de trescientas muestras procedentes de posibles centros de domesticación y empleará la innovadora técnica hyRAD. Gracias a ello, se estudiará la domesticación y el aumento de la carga patógena en las antiguas poblaciones de caballos.

Objetivo

The goal of the EARLYRIDERS project is to identify the geographic and temporal locus of modern horse domestication. It also focuses on the interplay between domestication and the increase of pathogen load in horses, and the role of epizootic transfer of human pathogens, especially plague. Horse domestication represents a turning point in human history, revolutionizing transport, trade, warfare, agriculture, and allowing humans to form larger, interconnected societies. Despite its importance for human history, this process remains poorly understood. Recent genome sequencing shows that the earliest archaeological remains of domestic horses are not the ancestors of modern domestic horses and that another, still unknown, wave of domestication forged the modern horse during the Early Bronze Age. Horse riding also allowed a rapid spread of diseases. For instance, the plague, that regularly haunted human populations in history, has been already commonly found in human remains dating to the Early Bronze Age. As the gene essential for the transmission through fleas was absent in these ancient strains, the plague might have been transmitted through other, still unknown vectors. This represents a serious gap in understanding of the early epidemiology of this important disease. As the spread of plague appears to be concurrent to horse domestication, the question remains whether the horse accounted for its spread, either as a vector or passively, by contagious riders. We aim at identifying the source of the second domestication wave and pathogen load in ancient horse populations by sequencing 300+ samples originating from all potential centers of domestication. Full genome sequencing is not possible due to low endogenous DNA content, therefore the samples will be subjected to sequence enrichment techniques, including the novel hyRAD method developed by the experienced researcher, scalable to thousands of loci in hundreds of samples at moderate cost.

Régimen de financiación

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

Coordinador

UNIVERSITE PAUL SABATIER TOULOUSE III
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 173 076,00
Dirección
ROUTE DE NARBONNE 118
31062 Toulouse Cedex 9
Francia

Ver en el mapa

Región
Occitanie Midi-Pyrénées Haute-Garonne
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 173 076,00