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Selection signatures in autochthonous Spanish cattle breeds using site frequency spectrum statistics
Autochthonous cattle breeds are a valuable reservoir of genetic diversity in Spain. Along their history, these breeds had been subjected to strong forces of differentiation and common selection. Based on genome-wide SNP data from five different autochthonous breeds, in this study we computed two classical selection signatures statistics in a sliding windows scan along the genome. The statistics chosen were Tajima’s D and Fu and Li’s D*, both based on the folded site frequency spectrum. The one-thousandth percentile value of the empirical distribution of each statistic was interpreted as a selection signature. Both regions of common signals among breeds and regions that show breed-specific signals were detected. An example spanning the region that harbors the Myostatin gene confirms the ability of the methods to detect different patterns of DNA variation among breeds in specific areas of the genome.
Keywords:
breed divergence
neutrality tests
folded spectrum
