Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA

doi:10.1073/pnas.0801991105

Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA

*Centre for Advanced Technologies in Animal Genetics and Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia;
^‡Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide SA 5005, Australia;
^§International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi 00100, Kenya;
^¶Joint Laboratory on Livestock and Forage Genetic Resources, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100094, China;
^‖Facultad de Agronomia e Ingenieria Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306-22 Santiago, Chile;
**Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia;
^‡‡Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom;
^§§Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University Biomedical Center, Box 597, 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden; and
^††Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

Edited by Joyce Marcus, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and approved May 7, 2008 (received for review February 29, 2008)

Abstract

European chickens were introduced into the American continents by the Spanish after their arrival in the 15th century. However, there is ongoing debate as to the presence of pre-Columbian chickens among Amerindians in South America, particularly in relation to Chilean breeds such as the Araucana and Passion Fowl. To understand the origin of these populations, we have generated partial mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 41 native Chilean specimens and compared them with a previously generated database of ≈1,000 domestic chicken sequences from across the world as well as published Chilean and Polynesian ancient DNA sequences. The modern Chilean sequences cluster closely with haplotypes predominantly distributed among European, Indian subcontinental, and Southeast Asian chickens, consistent with a European genetic origin. A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.

Footnotes

^†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.gongora{at}usyd.edu.au
Author contributions: J.G. and J.A.A. designed research; J.G., V.A.M., H.J., J.A.A., J.T.M., and O.H. performed research; N.J.R. and S.U. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; J.G., N.J.R., V.A.M., H.J., O.H., and J.J.A. analyzed data; and J.G., C.M., A.J.A., G.L., and A.C. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos. EF190830–EF190870).
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0801991105/DCSupplemental.