Bovid/bovidae/bovineae evolution Home

Bovid (Cow) diversity & evolution
gnu african buffalo

We are working on projects on bovid evolution and biodiversity. The PhD project of Dr Saadiah Jamli from MARDI, Malaysia looked at the diversity of Malaysian cattle of the Brakmas breed, revealing new allelic diversity in growth related genes including growth hormoe receptor, insulin-like growth factor, calpain and leptin. Microsatellite markers show that Brakmas breed is a righ reservoir of genetic diversity.

Work with Raquel Chaves, Filomena Adega and Henrique Guedes-Pinto, UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal, has shown the patterns of evolution of satellite DNA sequences, and these have allowed resolution of some of the early events in bovid speciation.

Bovid taxonomy - Malaysian cattle diversity - Publications - X chromosome evolution - Autosomal chromosomes - Translocations

 
Syncerus caffer (African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo), a bovid from the family of the Bovineae (above)    
 
Tragelaphus strepsiceros or greater kudu Bos taurus indicus or Zebu bull (cattle)  

The taxonomy of this large group is complex, and our work on the rapidly evolving satellite DNA (repetitive DNA motifs present thousands of times in the genome) and chromosomes is helping to resolve some of the evolutionary events in the genomes of the Bovids.

Artiodactyla (=Even-toed ungulates) consist of three groups: the Suiformes (pigs, peccaries, hippopotamuses), Tylopoda (camels, llamas) and Ruminantia (cattle, goats, sheep, deer, antelopes, giraffes).