Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39561986›Full record

ReviewAnimal genetics2025

History and genetic diversity of African sheep: Contrasting phenotypic and genomic diversity.

Anne Da Silva, Abulgasim Ahbara, Imen Baazaoui, Slim Ben Jemaa, Yinhong Cao, Elena Ciani, Edgar Farai Dzomba, Linda Evans, Elisha Gootwine, Olivier Hanotte and 11 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Animal genetics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

21 authors.

Anne Da SilvaUniversity of Limoges, E2LIM, Limoges, France.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7854-6642
Abulgasim AhbaraAnimal and Veterinary Sciences, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9926-6551
Imen BaazaouiCentre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Campus University of Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain.
Slim Ben JemaaNational Institute Agronomic Research of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Ariana, Tunisia.
Yinhong CaoInstitute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Elena CianiDipartimento di Bioscienze, Biotecnologie e Ambiente, University Bari "Aldo Moro", Bari, Italy.
Edgar Farai DzombaDiscipline of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6737-0178
Linda EvansDepartment of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Elisha GootwineInstitute of Animal Science, ARO, Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, Israel.
Olivier HanotteSchool of Life Sciences, The University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Laura HarrisDepartment of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Meng-Hua LiInstitute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
Salvatore MastrangeloDipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Forestali, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Ayao MissohouAnimal Production and Nutrition Unit, Inter-State School of Veterinary Science and Medicine (EISMV), Dakar, Senegal.
Annelin MolotsiDepartment of Animal Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Farai C MuchadeyiAgricultural Research Council, Biotechnology Platform, Onderstepoort, South Africa.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2825-5481
Joram M MwacharoAnimal and Veterinary Sciences, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, UK.
Gaëlle TalletUniversity of Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France.
Pascal VernusEcole Pratique Des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France.
Stephen J G HallEstonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2666-1715
Johannes A LenstraFaculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1745-7739

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Domesticated sheep have adapted to contrasting and extreme environments and continue to play important roles in local community-based economies throughout Africa. Here we review the Neolithic migrations of thin-tailed sheep and the later introductions of fat-tailed sheep into eastern Africa. According to contemporary pictorial evidence, the latter occurred in Egypt not before the Ptolemaic period (305-25 BCE). We further describe the more recent history of sheep in Egypt, the Maghreb, west and central Africa, central-east Africa, and southern Africa. We also present a comprehensive molecular survey based on the analysis of 50 K SNP genotypes for 59 African breeds contributed by several laboratories. We propose that gene flow and import of fat-tailed sheep have partially overwritten the diversity profile created by the initial migration. We found a genetic contrast between sheep north and south of the Sahara and a west-east contrast of thin- and fat-tailed sheep. There is no close relationship between African and central and east Asian fat-tailed breeds, whereas we observe within Africa only a modest effect of tail types on breed relationships.

Indexed as

Genetic VariationPhenotypeSheep, DomesticAfricaAnimal MigrationAnimalsBreedingGene FlowGenotypePolymorphism, Single NucleotideadaptationAfricafat tailhistoryphylogeographysheepthin tail

Identifiers

PMID39561986
PMCPMC11666867

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.