Early contact with dogs linked to lower risk of asthma

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Children who grow up with dogs have about 15 percent less asthma than children without dogs.

Credit: © olgavolodina / Fotolia

A team of Swedish scientists have used national register information in more than one million Swedish children to study the association of early life contact with dogs and subsequent development of asthma. This question has been studied extensively previously, but conclusive findings have been lacking. The new study showed that children who grew up with dogs had about 15 percent less asthma than children without dogs.

A total of more than one million children were included in the researchers' study linking together nine different national data sources, including two dog ownership registers not previously used for medical research. The results are being published in JAMA Pediatrics. The goal was to determine whether children exposed to animals early in life are at different risk of asthma.
"Earlier studies have shown that growing up on a farm reduces a child's risk of asthma to about half. We wanted to see if this relationship also was true also for children growing up with dogs in their homes. Our results confirmed the farming effect, and we also saw that children who grew up with dogs had about 15 percent less asthma than children without dogs. Because we had access to such a large and detailed data set, we could account for confounding factors such as asthma in parents, area of residence and socioeconomic status" says Tove Fall, Assistant Professor in Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Sciences and the Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, who coordinated the study together with researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden.
In Sweden, every person carries a unique personal number. Every visit to a specialist physician and every prescription made are recorded in national data bases, accessible for researchers after de-identification of data. Even dog ownership registration is mandatory in Sweden since 2001. These scientists studied whether having a parent registered as a dog-owner or animal farmer was associated with later diagnosis or medication for childhood asthma.
"These kind of epidemiological studies look for associations in large populations but do not provide answers on whether and how animals could protect children from developing asthma. We know that children with established allergy to cats or dogs should avoid them, but our results also indicate that children who grow up with dogs have reduced risks of asthma later in life. Thanks to the population-based design, our results are generalizable to the Swedish population, and probably also to other European populations with similar culture regarding pet ownership and farming" says Catarina Almqvist Malmros, senior author on the study, Paediatrician at Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital and Professor in Clinical epidemiology at Dept of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Uppsala Universitet. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Tove Fall, Cecilia Lundholm, Anne K Örtqvist, Katja Fall, Fang Fang, Åke Hedhammar, Olle Kämpe, Erik Ingelsson, Catarina Almqvist. Early Exposure to Dogs and Farm Animals and the Risk of Childhood Asthma. JAMA Pediatrics, 2015; 169 (11): e153219 DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.3219

Early farmers exploited beehive products at least 8,500 years ago

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Working bees.

Credit: © gertrudda / Fotolia

Humans have been exploiting bees as far back as the Stone Age, according to new research from the University of Bristol published in Nature today.

Previous evidence from prehistoric rock art is inferred to show honey hunters and Pharaonic Egyptian murals show early scenes of beekeeping. However, the close association between early farmers and the honeybee remained uncertain.
This study has gathered together evidence for the presence of beeswax in the pottery vessels of the first farmers of Europe by investigating chemical components trapped in the clay fabric of more than 6,000 potsherds from over 150 Old World archaeological sites.
The distinctive chemical 'fingerprint' of beeswax was detected at multiple Neolithic sites across Europe indicating just how widespread the association between humans and honeybees was in prehistoric times. For example, beeswax was detected in cooking pots from an archaeological site in Turkey, dating to the seventh millennium BC -- the oldest evidence yet for the use of bee products by Neolithic farmers.
The paper bring together over 20 years of research carried out at Bristol's Organic Geochemistry Unit (School of Chemistry) led by Professor Richard Evershed. Co-authors of the paper include archaeologists involved in the large scale investigation of sites across Europe, the Near East and Northern Africa.
Dr Mélanie Roffet-Salque, lead author of the paper, said: "The most obvious reason for exploiting the honeybee would be for honey, as this would have been a rare sweetener for prehistoric people. However, beeswax could have been used in its own right for various technological, ritual, cosmetic and medicinal purposes, for example, to waterproof porous ceramic vessels."
The lack of evidence for beeswax use at Neolithic sites above the 57th parallel North as in Scotland and Fennoscandia points to an ecological limit to the natural occurrence of honeybees at that time.
Professor Evershed said: "The lack of a fossil record of the honeybee means it's ecologically invisible for most of the past 10,000 years. Although evidence from ancient Egyptian murals and prehistoric rock art suggests humankind's association with the honeybee dates back over thousands of years, when and where this association emerged has been unknown -- until now.
"Our study is the first to provide unequivocal evidence, based solely on a chemical 'fingerprint', for the palaeoecological distribution of an economically and culturally important animal. It shows widespread exploitation of the honeybee by early farmers and pushes back the chronology of human-honeybee association to substantially earlier dates."

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The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of Bristol. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Decline in dung beetle populations due to use of preventative medicine for livestock

Date:

November 6, 2015

Source:

RUVID

Summary:

Research shows the adverse effects of a drug commonly administered to livestock, ivermectin, on populations of a key dung beetle in Mediterranean ecosystems.

FULL STORY

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Dung beetles on dung pile.

Credit: Image courtesy of RUVID

Research led by the University of Alicante's Ibero-American Centre for Biodiversity shows the adverse effects of a drug commonly administered to livestock, ivermectin, on populations of a key dung beetle in Mediterranean ecosystems.

A multidisciplinary research team made up of researchers from the Spanish universities of Alicante, Jaen and Granada, the French universities of Montpellier and Paul-Valéry Montpellier, CSIC's National Museum of Natural Sciences and the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation has analysed the impact of ivermectin on Scarabaeus cicatricosus populations in the Mediterranean. Led by José R. Verdú from the Ibero-American Centre for Biodiversity (CIBIO) at the Universidad de Alicante (University of Alicante, UA), this research shows that arthropods that ingest this substance, even in low doses, become unable to interact with their surroundings since it affects both their olfactory and locomotor capacity. This fact may explain the population decline observed for this dung beetle.
The article "Low doses of Ivermectin cause sensory and musculoskeletal disorders in dung beetles" was published in Scientific Reports in September.
Ivermectin is a very effective anti-parasitic drug that has been used as a preventative in livestock since its discovery in 1981. Since then its use has increased exponentially to become a standard drug in the treatment and prevention of common parasites, including in human beings. Considered by the World Health Organization as an essential medication, Verdú points out that, although this drug has proven very effective, its widespread use comes at a price.
The issue, researchers have found, is that the ivermectin molecule can survive its journey through the animal and be excreted unchanged. Also, once on the ground, residues can remain active in animal dung for at least a month. This means the drug hits the arthropod populations as hard as it does the parasites it is intended to prevent. It is in this context that Verdú's team draws attention to the declining beetle populations, reporting that the ingestion of ivermectin affects even mature dung beetles, seriously compromising their mobility, orientation and reproductive capacities.
These findings contradict international veterinary manuals and yet offer an explanation for thedecline in population levels reported in other research.
For this study, researchers used electroantennography, olfactometry and muscle force tests for the first time to obtain measures of the insects' sensory and muscle power. It was carried out in the Doñana Natural Park in southern Spain, testing specimens taken from protected, ivermectin-free sites and land where ivermectin is used. Different rates of decomposition of dung were observed between the two sites, rates being some 30 percent lower in the sites where ivermectin was used. This can be ascribed to the absence of dung beetles as, without them, dung accumulates in the field unprocessed. With populations of beneficial dung feeder species declining over the past 20 to 30 years, "the difference between land with beetles and land without is the difference between roughly 350 kilograms of dung per hectare per year that is not being buried in areas affected by ivermectin," the researcher said.
So aside from the lethal and sub-lethal effects of ivermectin on dung feeders, the use of this drug has a knock-on effect on the quality of the pasture for livestock, not to mention the irreparable loss of biodiversity in Mediterranean ecosystems. A further consequence is the growth of highly nitrophilous plants, which again are no good for livestock grazing. Researchers also speculate that ivermectin may be present in the food chain, pointing to the insectivorous birds that feed on dung beetles.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by RUVID. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. José R. Verdú, Vieyle Cortez, Antonio J. Ortiz, Estela González-Rodríguez, Juan Martinez-Pinna, Jean-Pierre Lumaret, Jorge M. Lobo, Catherine Numa, Francisco Sánchez-Piñero. Low doses of ivermectin cause sensory and locomotor disorders in dung beetles. Scientific Reports, 2015; 5: 13912 DOI: 10.1038/srep13912

Managed bees spread and intensify diseases in wild bees

Research shows wild bees are harmed even when managed bees are disease-free

Date:

November 5, 2015

Source:

University of California - Riverside

Summary:

Wild pollinators are in decline across many parts of the world. To combat this, managed honey bees and bumblebees are frequently shipped in to provide valuable pollination services to crops. But does this practice pose any risk to the wild bees? An entomologist has examined the evidence by analyzing the large body of research done in this area to come to the conclusion that managed bees are spreading diseases to wild bees.

FULL STORY

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Photo shows a honey bee and a bumblebee foraging on a purple coneflower.

Credit: Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis.

For various reasons, wild pollinators are in decline across many parts of the world. To combat this, managed honey bees and bumblebees are frequently shipped in to provide valuable pollination services to crops. But does this practice pose any risk to the wild bees?

An entomologist at the University of California, Riverside has examined the evidence by analyzing the large body of research done in this area to come to the conclusion that managed bees are spreading diseases to wild bees.
"Even in cases when the managed bees do not have a disease, they still stress local wild bees, making them more susceptible to disease," said Peter Graystock, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Entomology and the lead author of a paper published online last week in the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife.
The work is a review of a vast amount of research in this area, incorporating studies that utilize advanced disease screening. It lists the problems managed bees cause and suggests avenues to limit further damage.
"The use of managed honeybees and bumblebees is linked with several cases of increased disease and population declines in wild bees," Graystock said. "This is shown in various countries around the world and is not always because the managed bees are carrying a disease. Loss of wild pollinators will ultimately either reduce crop yields or increase the reliance on and cost of shipping in more managed bees. This increased cost will cascade down to consumers, raising the price of food we put on our tables."
By studying various examples from across the world, Graystock and his colleagues came up with a list of recommendations to enable the use of managed bees while minimizing their impact on wild bees.
"Primarily, this includes frequently screening for disease in managed bees and the employment of strategies to minimize mixing between managed and wild bees," Graystock said.
He noted that the globalized trade in bees has enabled almost free movement of diseases around the world. The movement of honey bees, he said, is the likely cause of the emergence of two of the most harmful honeybee diseases in countless countries in the last 50 years: Nosema ceranae and the Varroa mite.
"In addition, the more recent trade in bumblebees is responsible for importing exotic mites into Japan and appears to be responsible for importing European strains of Nosema bombi into North America and Crithidia bombi into South America," he said.
The authors of the review paper offer suggestions for mitigating the problem. They recommend first that the safety of bee transport be improved by employing rigorous disease screening of bees and creating unified international regulations to prevent the movement of diseased bees. Second, they advise that the mixing of managed bumblebees with wild bees should be prevented by using nets over glasshouses containing managed bumblebees. Finally, they recommend an increased conservation effort to limit the effects of managed bee use in areas suffering wild bee declines.
"The general perception is that managed bees are healthy and that there will be laws in place to prevent harm to the environment," Graystock said. "The more you look into this though, the more you realize that many countries have inadequate or no laws for bee movements and when we are looking at a global industry, this affects everyone. There is no unified law to prevent diseased bee transportation and most bumblebee restrictions are based on honeybee diseases, with little to no requirement to look for bumblebee diseases."
Graystock has researched the effects of managed bees on wild bees for the past 4-5 years. The review article resulted from an invitation to him from the editor of the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside. The original item was written by Iqbal Pittalwala. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Peter Graystock, Edward J. Blane, Quinn S. McFrederick, Dave Goulson, William OH. Hughes. Do managed bees drive parasite spread and emergence in wild bees? International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 2015; DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2015.10.001

Basic understanding of plants: Cellular damage control system helps plants tough it out

Date:

October 22, 2015

Source:

Salk Institute

Summary:

As food demands rise to unprecedented levels, farmers are in a race against time to grow plants that can withstand environmental challenges--infestation, climate change and more. Now, new research reveals details into a fundamental mechanism of how plants manage their energy intake, which could potentially be harnessed to improve yield.
ULL STORY

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In plants, chloroplasts can accumulate high levels of toxic singlet oxygen, a reactive oxygen species formed during photosynthesis. In these cells, most of the chloroplasts (green organelles) and mitochondria (red organelles) appear healthy. However, the chloroplast in the top left of the image is being selectively degraded and is interacting with the central vacuole (blue). Salk scientists reveal how this strategy to degrade singlet oxygen-damaged chloroplasts may help a cell avoid any further oxidative damage during photosynthesis.

Credit: Salk Institute

As food demands rise to unprecedented levels, farmers are in a race against time to grow plants that can withstand environmental challenges--infestation, climate change and more. Now, new research at the Salk Institute, published in Science on October 23, 2015, reveals details into a fundamental mechanism of how plants manage their energy intake, which could potentially be harnessed to improve yield.

"Plants are unique in that they are stuck wherever they germinate, so they must use a variety of ways to deal with environmental challenges," says Joanne Chory, senior author of the paper and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory. "Understanding the techniques plants use to cope with stress can help us to engineer stronger crops with improved yield to face our growing food shortage."
Plants have cellular organelles akin to tiny solar panels in each leaf. These microscopic structures, called chloroplasts, convert sunlight into chemical energy to enable the plant to grow. The command center of the cell, the nucleus, occasionally sends out signals to destroy all of the 50-100 chloroplasts in the cell, such as in autumn when leaves turn brown and drop off. However, the Salk team found how the plant nucleus begins to degrade and reuse the materials of select, malfunctioning chloroplasts--a mechanism that had been suspected but never shown until now.
"We've discovered a new pathway that lets a cell do a quality control check on the chloroplasts," says Jesse Woodson, Salk staff scientist and first author of the paper. Chloroplasts are full of enzymes, proteins and other materials that the plant can otherwise use if the chloroplast is defective (for example, creating toxic materials) or not needed.
While studying a mutant version of the model plant Arabidopsis, the team noticed the plant was making defective chloroplasts that created a reactive, toxic molecule called singlet oxygen that accumulated in the cells. The team noticed that the cells were marking the damaged chloroplasts for degradation with a protein tag called ubiquitin, which is used in organisms from yeast to humans to modify the function of a protein. Under closer investigation, the team observed that a protein called PUB4 was initiating the tagging.
"Damaged chloroplasts were being coated in this ubiquitin protein," says Woodson. "We think this is fundamentally different than the cell-wide signal, because the cell wants to continue doing photosynthesis, but has some bad chloroplasts to target and remove."
While PUB4 had been tied to cell death in other work, the Salk team showed that this protein initiates the degradation of chloroplasts by placing ubiquitin tags to mark the organelle for cellular recycling. This process, says Woodson, is like labeling defective solar panels to break them down for other materials.
"Understanding the basic biology of plants like this selective chloroplast degradation leads us a step closer to learning how to control chloroplasts and design crops that are more resistant to stressors," says Chory, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and holder of the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology. For example, if a plant is growing in an environment that is fairly relaxed, one could potentially reduce the degradation of chloroplasts to boost the growth of the plant. Or, if the environment contained a lot of sun, spurring on the breakdown and regeneration of chloroplasts could help the plant thrive.
Interestingly, chloroplasts could help us understand our brains as well. Neurons have energy-generating organelles similar to chloroplasts called mitochondria. "Recently it's become apparent that mitochondria are selectively degraded in the cell and that bad mitochondria accumulation could lead to disease like Parkinson's and maybe Alzheimer's," says Woodson. "Cells, whether plant or animal, learn how to degrade defunct energy organelles selectively to survive."
By better understanding this process in chloroplasts, the Salk team may be able to also glean insight into how the cells handle misbehaving mitochondria. "So far it seems like it might be a parallel process," Woodson adds. "We're hoping with our molecular and genetic tools available for plants we can continue to uncover general concepts on how cells do these quality control checks on organelles and learn something about neurodegenerative disease as well."

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Salk Institute. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Jesse D. Woodson, Matthew S. Joens, Andrew B. Sinson, Jonathan Gilkerson, Patrice A. Salomé, Detlef Weigel, James A. Fitzpatrick, and Joanne Chory. Ubiquitin facilitates a quality-control pathway that removes damaged chloroplasts. Science, 23 October 2015: 450-454 DOI: 10.1126/science.aac7444

Fruit and vegetables aren't only good for a healthy body; they protect your mind too

Date:

September 16, 2015

Source:

BioMed Central

Summary:

Eating a Mediterranean diet or other healthy dietary pattern, comprising of fruit, vegetables, legumes, and nuts and low in processed meats, is associated with preventing the onset of depression, according to research. A large study of 15,093 people suggests depression could be linked with nutrient deficits. 

FULL STORY

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A healthy diet heavy in vegetables, fruits and nuts is associated with preventing the onset of depression.

Credit: © vpardi / Fotolia

Eating a Mediterranean diet or other healthy dietary pattern, comprising of fruit, vegetables, legumes, and nuts and low in processed meats, is associated with preventing the onset of depression, according to research published in the open access journal BMC Medicine. A large study of 15,093 people suggests depression could be linked with nutrient deficits.

Following extensive research into diet and its effect on our physical health, researchers are now exploring the link between nutrition and mental health. This is the first time that several healthy dietary patterns and their association with the risk of depression have been analyzed together.
The researchers compared three diets; the Mediterranean diet, the Pro-vegetarian Dietary Pattern and Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010. Participants used a scoring system to measure their adherence to the selected diet, i.e. the higher the dietary score indicated that the participant was eating a healthier diet.
Food items such as meat and sweets (sources of animal fats: saturated and trans fatty acids) were negatively scored, while nuts, fruits and vegetables (sources of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals respectively) were positively scored.
Lead researcher, Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, says "We wanted to understand what role nutrition plays in mental health, as we believe certain dietary patterns could protect our minds. These diets are all associated with physical health benefits and now we find that they could have a positive effect on our mental health."
"The protective role is ascribed to their nutritional properties, where nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables (sources of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals) could reduce the risk of depression."
The study included 15,093 participants free of depression at the beginning of the study. They are former students of the University of Navarra, Spain, registered professionals from some Spanish provinces and other university graduates. All are part of the SUN (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) Project, a cohort study started on 21st December 1999. The cohort has been used to identify dietary and lifestyle determinants of various conditions, including diabetes, obesity and depression.
Questionnaires to assess dietary intake were completed at the start of the project and again after 10 years. A total of 1,550 participants reported a clinical diagnosis of depression or had used antidepressant drugs after a median follow-up of 8.5 years.
The Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 was associated with the greatest reduction of risk of depression but most of the effect could be explained by its similarity with the Mediterranean Diet. Thus, common nutrients and food items such as omega-3 fatty acids, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts and moderate alcohol intake present in both patterns (Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 and Mediterranean diet) could be responsible for the observed reduced risk in depression associated with a good adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010.
Almudena Sanchez-Villegas says, "A threshold effect may exist. The noticeable difference occurs when participants start to follow a healthier diet. Even a moderate adherence to these healthy dietary patterns was associated with an important reduction in the risk of developing depression. However, we saw no extra benefit when participants showed high or very high adherence to the diets.
So, once the threshold is achieved, the reduced risk plateaus even if participants were stricter with their diets and eating more healthily. This dose-response pattern is compatible with the hypothesis that suboptimal intake of some nutrients (mainly located in low adherence levels) may represent a risk factor for future depression."
A limitation of this study was that the results are based on self-reported dietary intake and a self-reported clinical diagnosis of depression. More research is needed to predict the role of nutrient intake for neurophysiological requirements and identify whether it is minerals and vitamins or proteins and carbohydrates that cause depression.

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, Patricia Henríquez-Sánchez, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Francisca Lahortiga, Patricio Molero, Estefanía Toledo, Miguel A. Martínez-González. A longitudinal analysis of diet quality scores and the risk of incident depression in the SUN Project. BMC Medicine, 2015; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12916-015-0428-y

Ancient wild ox genome reveals complex cow ancestry

Date:

October 26, 2015

Source:

BioMed Central

Summary:

The ancestry of domesticated cattle proves more complex than previously thought, reports a new paper. The first nuclear genome sequence from an ancient wild ox reveals that some modern domestic cow breeds, including the Scottish Highland and Irish Kerry, had wild ancestors that were British, as well as Asian.

FULL STORY

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The team of researchers discovered clear evidence of breeding between wild British aurochs and early domesticated cattle. (Stock image)

Credit: © sarah181013 / Fotolia

The ancestry of domesticated cattle proves more complex than previously thought, reports a paper published in the open access journal Genome Biology. The first nuclear genome sequence from an ancient wild ox reveals that some modern domestic cow breeds, including the Scottish Highland and Irish Kerry, had wild ancestors that were British, as well as Asian.

The aurochs, Bos primigenius, is an extinct wild ox species that ranged across the grasslands of Eurasia and North Africa 11,000 years ago. Domestication of aurochs gave rise to two major groups of cattle; Bos taurus and Bos indicus.
Previous studies have shown that European B. taurus are descended from western Asian populations of aurochs. However, little was known about the relationship between domesticated cattle and wild aurochs in Europe, and how wild populations contributed to the evolutionary history of the cows that graze our fields today.
To build a clearer picture of the ancestry of European cattle breeds, scientists from University College Dublin extracted genetic material from a bone of a 6,750 year old wild British aurochs discovered in a cave in Derbyshire, England. They then sequenced its complete genome -- its genetic blueprint -- and compared it with the genomes of 81 domesticated B. taurus and B. indicus animals, and DNA marker information from more than 1,200 modern cows.
The team of researchers discovered clear evidence of breeding between wild British aurochs and early domesticated cattle.
David MacHugh, senior author on the study from the School of Agriculture and Food Science at University College Dublin, said: "Our results show the ancestors of modern British and Irish breeds share more genetic similarities with this ancient specimen than other European cattle. This suggests that early British farmers may have restocked their domesticated herds with wild aurochs."
Genes linked to neurobiology and muscle development were also found to be associated with domestication of the ancestors of European cattle, indicating that a key part of the domestication process was the selection of cattle based on behavioural and meat traits.
David MacHugh added: "This is the first complete nuclear genome sequence from the extinct Eurasian aurochs. Our new study contradicts earlier simple models of cattle domestication and evolution that we and others proposed based on mitochondrial DNA or Y chromosomes. What now emerges from high-resolution studies of the nuclear genome is a more nuanced picture of crossbreeding and gene flow between domestic cattle and wild aurochs as early European farmers moved into new habitats such as Britain during the Neolithic."

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Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Stephen D E Park, David A. Magee, Paul A. McGettigan, Matthew D. Teasdale, Ceiridwen J. Edwards, Amanda J. Lohan, Alison Murphy, Martin Braud, Mark T. Donoghue, Yuan Liu, Andrew T. Chamberlain, Kévin Rue-Albrecht, Steven Schroeder, Charles Spillane, Shuaishuai Tai, Daniel G. Bradley, Tad S. Sonstegard, Brendan J. Loftus, David E. MacHugh. Genome sequencing of the extinct Eurasian wild aurochs, Bos primigenius, illuminates the phylogeography and evolution of cattle. Genome Biology, 2015; 16 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s13059-015-0790-2