L’utilisation du cheval à la guerre a permis aux hommaes des moyens plus puissantse et surtout des modes de guerre nouveaux par rapport à ceux dont disposaient les tribus guerrières uniquement pédestres ou forestières.
Cependant la suite des modifications biologiques inscrites dans le génome des chevaux pendant la domestication n’avait pas été étudiée jusqu’à présentt
Référence
HomeScienceVol. 389, No. 6763Selection at the GSDMC locus in horses and its implications for human mobility
Selection at the GSDMC locus in horses and its implications for human mobility
Science
28 Aug 2025 Vol 389, Issue 6763 pp. 925-930
Editor’s summary
Since their invention in the early 20th century, cars have rapidly taken over the human world of transportation. For thousands of years before that, the speedy movement and burdensome tasks of humans were facilitated by horses. Humans involved in this early relationship played a role in shaping horses to be the fast, strong, and relatively tame creatures they are today. Looking for signatures of selection across a suite of key traits, Liu et al. found shifts in markers related to behavior and body conformation at around 5000 years ago, reflecting patterns of domestication (see the Perspective by Frantz). —Sacha Vignieri
Abstract
Horsepower revolutionized human history through enhanced mobility, transport, and warfare. However, the suite of biological traits that reshaped horses during domestication remains unclear. We scanned an extensive horse genome time series for selection signatures at 266 markers associated with key traits. We detected a signature of positive selection at ZFPM1—known to be a modulator of behavior in mice—occurring ~5000 years ago (ya), suggesting that taming was one of the earliest steps toward domestication of horses. Intensive selection at GSDMC began ~4750 ya with the domestication bottleneck, leading regulatory variants to high frequency by ~4150 ya. GSDMC genotypes are linked to body conformation in horses and to spinal anatomy, motor coordination, and muscular strength in mice. Our results suggest that selection on standing variation at GSDMC was crucial for the emergence of horses that could facilitate fast mobility in human societies ~4200 ya.
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