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Abstract
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Genomic assessment of local sheep breeds is relevant to the reconstruction of postdomestication
migrations and to filling in gaps in the developmental history and contemporary
phylogeographic-differentiation patterns in Eurasia. In this study, we aimed to reveal possible genetic
relationships between local sheep breeds in Russia and the Persian Highlands (Iran) based on
high-density SNP genotypes. All samples (n = 395) from 11 Iranian and 10 Russian sheep breeds were
genotyped by using the Ovine Infinium HD BeadChip (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Principal
Component Analysis, maximum-likelihood assessment, and Neighbor-Net graph analysis demonstrated
a clear differentiation between Russian sheep breeds of European ancestry from the Iranian
local cluster and Russian breeds of Asian origin. Admixture analysis revealed a shared ancestral
background, which was detected in several Iranian-local and Russian-local fat-tailed coarse-wool
sheep breeds. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the pattern of historic admixture,
which is present in the genomes of many Eurasian sheep breeds.
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