Cats of the Pharaohs: Genetic Comparison of Egyptian Cat Mummies to their Feline Contemporaries.
Cats of the Pharaohs: Genetic Comparison of Egyptian Cat Mummies to their Feline Contemporaries.
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法老王的猫：埃及猫木乃伊与其同时代猫科动物的基因比较。
DOI：
10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.005
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Lyons,LeslieA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kurushima,JenniferD;Ikram,Salima;Knudsen,Joan;Bleiberg,Edward;Grahn,RobertA;Lyons,LeslieA
古埃及人在晚期（公元前664-332年）制作了大量的猫木乃伊。发育中的野猫和家猫在形态和大小上的重叠混淆了木乃伊猫物种的身份。基因分析应该支持木乃伊鉴定，并对古埃及人木乃伊化的三只猫的两块长骨和一块下颌骨进行了分析。木乃伊的DNA是在加州-戴维斯大学的一个专门的古代DNA实验室中提取的，然后直接对每块骨头上246到402 bp的mtDNA控制区进行测序。当与野猫（Felis silvestris silvestris，Felis silvestris tristami和Felis chaus）的数据集以及先前发表的包括埃及在内的现代家猫样本的全球数据集进行比较时，DNA证据表明这三具木乃伊代表了现代埃及和中东流行的常见当代家猫线粒体型。分歧估计木乃伊的有丝分裂型起源于他们的木乃伊之前的两到七千五百年之间，可能在埃及前王朝和早期王朝时期之前或期间。这些数据是第一个支持古埃及人使用家养猫（Felis silvestris卡图斯）制作木乃伊的遗传学证据，并可能意味着猫在广泛的猫木乃伊化之前被驯化。
The ancient Egyptians mummified an abundance of cats during the Late Period (664–332 BC). The overlapping morphology and sizes of developing wildcats and domestic cats confounds the identity of mummified cat species. Genetic analyses should support mummy identification and was conducted on two long bones and a mandible of three cats that were mummified by the ancient Egyptians. The mummy DNA was extracted in a dedicated ancient DNA laboratory at the University of California – Davis, then directly sequencing between 246 and 402 bp of the mtDNA control region from each bone. When compared to a dataset of wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris, Felis silvestris tristrami, and Felis chaus) as well as a previously published worldwide dataset of modern domestic cat samples, including Egypt, the DNA evidence suggests the three mummies represent common contemporary domestic cat mitotypes prevalent in modern Egypt and the Middle East. Divergence estimates date the origin of the mummies' mitotypes to between two and 7.5 thousand years prior to their mummification, likely prior to or during Egyptian Predynastic and Early Dynastic Periods. These data are the first genetic evidence supporting that the ancient Egyptians used domesticated cats, Felis silvestris catus, for votive mummies, and likely implies cats were domesticated prior to extensive mummification of cats.