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Candidate signatures of positive selection for environmental adaptation in indigenous African cattle: A review (2023)
Journal Article
Kambal, S., Tijjani, A., Ibrahim, S. A., Ahmed, M. K. A., Mwacharo, J. M., & Hanotte, O. (in press). Candidate signatures of positive selection for environmental adaptation in indigenous African cattle: A review. Animal Genetics, https://doi.org/10.1111/age.13353

Environmental adaptation traits of indigenous African cattle are increasingly being investigated to respond to the need for sustainable livestock production in the context of unpredictable climatic changes. Several studies have highlighted genomic re... Read More about Candidate signatures of positive selection for environmental adaptation in indigenous African cattle: A review.

Genome-wide diversity and admixture of five indigenous cattle populations from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia (2023)
Journal Article
Zegeye, T., Belay, G., Vallejo-Trujillo, A., Han, J., & Hanotte, O. (2023). Genome-wide diversity and admixture of five indigenous cattle populations from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. Frontiers in Genetics, 14, Article 1050365. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2023.1050365

The Tigray region, where we found around eight per cent of the indigenous cattle population of Ethiopia, is considered as the historic centre of the country, with the ancient pre-Aksumite and Aksumite civilisations in contact with the civilisations o... Read More about Genome-wide diversity and admixture of five indigenous cattle populations from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia.

Yolk Fatty Acid Content, Lipid Health Indices, and Oxidative Stability in Eggs of Slow-Growing Sasso Chickens Fed on Flaxseed Supplemented with Plant Polyphenol Extracts (2023)
Journal Article
Tadesse, D., Retta, N., Girma, M., Ndiwa, N., Dessie, T., Hanotte, O., …Maak, S. (2023). Yolk Fatty Acid Content, Lipid Health Indices, and Oxidative Stability in Eggs of Slow-Growing Sasso Chickens Fed on Flaxseed Supplemented with Plant Polyphenol Extracts. Foods, 12(9), Article 1819. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12091819

Genetic variation and demographic history of Sudan desert sheep reveal two diversified lineages (2023)
Journal Article
Salim, B., Alasmari, S., Mohamed, N. S., Ahmed, M. A., Nakao, R., & Hanotte, O. (2023). Genetic variation and demographic history of Sudan desert sheep reveal two diversified lineages. BMC Genomics, 24, Article 118. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-023-09231-6

More than 400 million sheep are raised on the African continent, the majority of which are indigenous and are primarily reared for sustenance. They have effectively adapted to various climatic and production environments, surviving and flourishing. T... Read More about Genetic variation and demographic history of Sudan desert sheep reveal two diversified lineages.

Fourth Report on Chicken Genes and Chromosomes 2022 (2023)
Journal Article
Smith, J., Alfieri, J. M., Anthony, N., Arensburger, P., Athrey, G. N., Balacco, J., …Zhou, H. (2023). Fourth Report on Chicken Genes and Chromosomes 2022. Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 162(8-9), 405–528. https://doi.org/10.1159/000529376

The chicken continues to hold its position as a leading model organism within many areas of research, as well as being a major source of protein for human consumption. The First Report on Chicken Genes and Chromosomes [Schmid et al., 2000], which was... Read More about Fourth Report on Chicken Genes and Chromosomes 2022.

Analysis of tail morphology and osteology in Ethiopian indigenous sheep (2023)
Journal Article
Amane, A., Belay, G., Kebede, A., Dessie, T., Worku, S., Hanotte, O., & Vila, E. (2023). Analysis of tail morphology and osteology in Ethiopian indigenous sheep. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 47, Article 103776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103776

Sheep adaptive diversity, including tail morphology, has been shaped by various factors, including natural and/or artificial selection for different traits. The Horn of Africa has historically been a major livestock entry point on the African contine... Read More about Analysis of tail morphology and osteology in Ethiopian indigenous sheep.

Morphological and osteological characterization of indigenous domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus): validation of Rensch’s, Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules (2023)
Journal Article
Gebru, G., Belay, G., Dessie, T., Zenebe Kelkay, M., Birhanie Dagnhegn, M., & Hanotte, O. (2023). Morphological and osteological characterization of indigenous domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus): validation of Rensch’s, Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, Article 1032082. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1032082

Ecogeographical habitat heterogeneity in wild endotherm species results in morphological variability associated with physiological mechanisms for maintaining their body temperature at a thermoneutral state in different environments. This habitat-indu... Read More about Morphological and osteological characterization of indigenous domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus): validation of Rensch’s, Bergmann’s and Allen’s rules.

In Vitro Antioxidant Activities of Plant Polyphenol Extracts and Their Combined Effect with Flaxseed on Raw and Cooked Breast Muscle Fatty Acid Content, Lipid Health Indices and Oxidative Stability in Slow-Growing Sasso Chickens (2022)
Journal Article
Tadesse, D., Retta, N., Girma, M., Ndiwa, N., Dessie, T., Hanotte, O., …Maak, S. (2023). In Vitro Antioxidant Activities of Plant Polyphenol Extracts and Their Combined Effect with Flaxseed on Raw and Cooked Breast Muscle Fatty Acid Content, Lipid Health Indices and Oxidative Stability in Slow-Growing Sasso Chickens. Foods, 12(1), Article 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12010115

Adding flaxseed was found to decrease oxidative stability in feed and increase the antioxidant needs of chicken. This has also been associated with a decrease in the nutritional value and oxidative stability of meat if sufficient dietary antioxidants... Read More about In Vitro Antioxidant Activities of Plant Polyphenol Extracts and Their Combined Effect with Flaxseed on Raw and Cooked Breast Muscle Fatty Acid Content, Lipid Health Indices and Oxidative Stability in Slow-Growing Sasso Chickens.

Genomic adaptation of Ethiopian indigenous cattle to high altitude (2022)
Journal Article
Terefe, E., Belay, G., Han, J., Hanotte, O., & Tijjani, A. (2022). Genomic adaptation of Ethiopian indigenous cattle to high altitude. Frontiers in Genetics, 13, Article 960234. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.960234

The mountainous areas of Ethiopia represent one of the most extreme environmental challenges in Africa faced by humans and other inhabitants. Selection for high-altitude adaptation is expected to have imprinted the genomes of livestock living in thes... Read More about Genomic adaptation of Ethiopian indigenous cattle to high altitude.

Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed circRNAs miRNAs and mRNAs during the challenge of coccidiosis (2022)
Journal Article
Chen, X., Wang, Z., Chen, Y., Akinci, I., Luo, W., Xu, Y., …Nie, Q. (2022). Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed circRNAs miRNAs and mRNAs during the challenge of coccidiosis. Frontiers in Immunology, 13, Article 910860. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.910860

Avian coccidiosis is a common enzootic disease caused by infection of Eimeria species parasites. It causes huge economic losses in the global poultry industry. Current control using anticoccidial drugs or vaccination is limited due to drug resistance... Read More about Transcriptome analysis of differentially expressed circRNAs miRNAs and mRNAs during the challenge of coccidiosis.

Genome-Wide Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Local Sudanese Sheep Populations Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequencing (2022)
Journal Article
Amane, A., Belay, G., Tijjani, A., Dessie, T., Musa, H. H., & Hanotte, O. (2022). Genome-Wide Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Local Sudanese Sheep Populations Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequencing. Diversity, 14(11), Article 895. https://doi.org/10.3390/d14110895

Local Sudanese sheep populations inhabiting diverse environmental conditions and holding opposing morphologies provide opportunities for molecular-genetic research. Characterizing their genome is crucial for sustainable breeding improvement and targe... Read More about Genome-Wide Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Local Sudanese Sheep Populations Revealed by Whole-Genome Sequencing.

Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia) (2022)
Journal Article
Gebru, G., Belay, G., Vallejo-Trujillo, A., Dessie, T., Gheyas, A., & Hanotte, O. (2022). Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia). Frontiers in Genetics, 13, Article 968961. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2022.968961

The Tigray region is an ancient entry route for the domestic chickens into Africa. The oldest African chicken bones were found in this region at Mezber, a pre-Aksumite rural farming settlement. They were dated to around 800–400 BCE. Since then, the f... Read More about Ecological niche modelling as a tool to identify candidate indigenous chicken ecotypes of Tigray (Ethiopia).

Influence of Eimeria maxima coccidia infection on gut microbiome diversity and composition of the jejunum and cecum of indigenous chicken (2022)
Journal Article
Jebessa, E., Guo, L., Chen, X., Bello, S. F., Cai, B., Girma, M., …Nie, Q. (2022). Influence of Eimeria maxima coccidia infection on gut microbiome diversity and composition of the jejunum and cecum of indigenous chicken. Frontiers in Immunology, 13, Article 994224. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.994224

Coccidiosis is an economically significant protozoan disease and an intracellular parasite that significantly impacts poultry production. The gastrointestinal tract microbiota plays a central role in host health and metabolism, and these microbes enh... Read More about Influence of Eimeria maxima coccidia infection on gut microbiome diversity and composition of the jejunum and cecum of indigenous chicken.

Natural adaptation and human selection of northeast African sheep genomes (2022)
Journal Article
Ahbara, A. M., Musa, H. H., Robert, C., Abebe, A., Al-Jumaili, A. S., Kebede, A., …Mwacharo, J. M. (2022). Natural adaptation and human selection of northeast African sheep genomes. Genomics, 114(5), Article 110448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygeno.2022.110448

African sheep manifest diverse but distinct physio-anatomical traits, which are the outcomes of natural- and human-driven selection. Here, we generated 34.8 million variants from 150 indigenous northeast African sheep genomes sequenced at an average... Read More about Natural adaptation and human selection of northeast African sheep genomes.

Ecological niche modelling for delineating livestock ecotypes and exploring environmental genomic adaptation: The example of Ethiopian village chicken (2022)
Journal Article
Vallejo-Trujillo, A., Kebede, A., Lozano-Jaramillo, M., Dessie, T., Smith, J., Hanotte, O., & Gheyas, A. A. (2022). Ecological niche modelling for delineating livestock ecotypes and exploring environmental genomic adaptation: The example of Ethiopian village chicken. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, Article 866587. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.866587

In evolutionary ecology, an “ecotype” is a population that is genetically adapted to specific environmental conditions. Environmental and genetic characterisation of livestock ecotypes can play a crucial role in conservation and breeding improvement,... Read More about Ecological niche modelling for delineating livestock ecotypes and exploring environmental genomic adaptation: The example of Ethiopian village chicken.

Genomic signatures for drylands adaptation at gene-rich regions in African zebu cattle (2022)
Journal Article
Tijjani, A., Salim, B., da Silva, M. V. B., Eltahir, H. A., Musa, T. H., Marshall, K., …Musa, H. H. (2022). Genomic signatures for drylands adaptation at gene-rich regions in African zebu cattle. Genomics, 114(4), Article 110423. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygeno.2022.110423

Background Indigenous Sudanese cattle are mainly indicine/zebu (humped) type. They thrive in the harshest dryland environments characterised by high temperatures, long seasonal dry periods, nutritional shortages, and vector disease challenges. Here,... Read More about Genomic signatures for drylands adaptation at gene-rich regions in African zebu cattle.

Correction to: Population diferentiated copy number variation of Bos taurus, Bos indicus and their African hybrids (2022)
Journal Article
Jang, J., Terefe, E., Kim, K., Lee, Y. H., Belay, G., Tijjani, A., …Kim, H. (2022). Correction to: Population diferentiated copy number variation of Bos taurus, Bos indicus and their African hybrids. BMC Genomics, 23, Article 207. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-022-08409-8

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors reported that the following missing authors from the authorship list: • Endashaw Terefe • Gurja Belay • Abdulfatai Tijjani • Jian-Lin Han • Olivier Hanotte The corrected authorship list a... Read More about Correction to: Population diferentiated copy number variation of Bos taurus, Bos indicus and their African hybrids.

Author Correction: Mitonuclear incompatibility as a hidden driver behind the genome ancestry of African admixed cattle (2022)
Journal Article
Kwon, T., Kim, K., Caetano-Anolles, K., Sung, S., Cho, S., Jeong, C., …Kim, H. (2022). Author Correction: Mitonuclear incompatibility as a hidden driver behind the genome ancestry of African admixed cattle. BMC Biology, 20, Article 62. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-022-01265-8

The original article contained minor errors in Figs. 1 and 3 which have both since been corrected.

Whole genome sequences of 234 indigenous African chickens from Ethiopia (2022)
Journal Article
Gheyas, A., Vallejo-Trujillo, A., Kebede, A., Dessie, T., Hanotte, O., & Smith, J. (2022). Whole genome sequences of 234 indigenous African chickens from Ethiopia. Scientific Data, 9, Article 53. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01129-4

Indigenous chickens predominate poultry production in Africa. Although preferred for backyard farming because of their adaptability to harsh tropical environments, these populations suffer from relatively low productivity compared to commercial lines... Read More about Whole genome sequences of 234 indigenous African chickens from Ethiopia.

The usefulness of maternally inherited genetic markers for phylogeographic studies in village chicken (2022)
Journal Article
Al-Jumaili, A. S., & Hanotte, O. (2023). The usefulness of maternally inherited genetic markers for phylogeographic studies in village chicken. Animal Biotechnology, 34(4), 863-881. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495398.2021.2000429

Phylogeography plays a major role in understanding micro and macroevolutionary processes dealing with evolutionary interpretations of geographical distribution. This field integrates information from molecular genetics, population genetics, demograph... Read More about The usefulness of maternally inherited genetic markers for phylogeographic studies in village chicken.