How to Sequence an Ancient Goat Genome

Goat domestication from wild bezoar is thought to have occurred approximately 10,000 years ago in the highlands of Iran and Turkey. This process has had a profound effect on this species‘ production traits, behaviour, and physical appearance, which will have left distinct genetic signals in the modern domestic population. However, such signals will have been confounded by human-driven migration, post-domestication admixture, and perhaps multiple domestication events. Directly sequencing the DNA of ancient goats, preserved in bone remains, should allow more detailed unpacking of these different processes. Postmortem DNA fragments and degrades in an environment-dependent manner and the locations of key caprine population events are challenging in this respect. However, recent studies have demonstrated that denser bone elements can provide a refuge from exogenous sources of damage for DNA. By extracting DNA from such bones, we will show it is possible to generate entire genomes from geographic locations previously thought to be refractory to DNA preservation.