Abstract

Guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) have a long association with humans. From as early as 10,000 years ago they were a wild food source. Later, domesticated Cavia porcellus were dispersed well beyond their native range through pre-Columbian exchange networks and, more recently, widely across the globe. Here we present 46 complete mitogenomes of archaeological guinea pigs from sites in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, the Caribbean, Belgium and the United States to elucidate their evolutionary history, origins and paths of dispersal. Our results indicate an independent centre of domestication of Cavia in the eastern Colombian Highlands. We identify a Peruvian origin for the initial introduction of domesticated guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) beyond South America into the Caribbean. We also demonstrate that Peru was the probable source of the earliest known guinea pigs transported, as part of the exotic pet trade, to both Europe and the southeastern United States. Finally, we identify a modern reintroduction of guinea pigs to Puerto Rico, where local inhabitants use them for food. This research demonstrates that the natural and cultural history of guinea pigs is more complex than previously known and has implications for other studies regarding regional to global-scale studies of mammal domestication, translocation, and distribution.

Details

Title
Ancient DNA of Guinea Pigs (Cavia spp.) Indicates a Probable New Center of Domestication and Pathways of Global Distribution
Author
Lord, E 1 ; Collins, C 2 ; deFrance, S 3 ; LeFebvre, M J 4 ; Pigière, F 5 ; Eeckhout, P 6 ; Erauw, C 6 ; Fitzpatrick, S M 7 ; Healy, P F 8 ; Martínez-Polanco, M F 9 ; Garcia, J L 10 ; Ramos, Roca E 11 ; Delgado, M 12 ; Sánchez, Urriago A 13 ; Peña Léon G A 14 ; Toyne, J M 15 ; Dahlstedt, A 16 ; Moore, K M 17 ; Laguer Diaz C 3 ; Zori, C 18 ; Matisoo-Smith, E 2 

 University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand (GRID:grid.29980.3a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7830); Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden (GRID:grid.10548.38) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 9377) 
 University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand (GRID:grid.29980.3a) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 7830) 
 University of Florida, Gainesville, United States (GRID:grid.15276.37) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8091) 
 Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, United States (GRID:grid.466677.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 2166 957X) 
 University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland (GRID:grid.7886.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 0768 2743) 
 Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (GRID:grid.4989.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 2348 0746) 
 University of Oregon, OR, United States (GRID:grid.170202.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8008) 
 Trent University, Ontario, Canada (GRID:grid.52539.38) (ISNI:0000 0001 1090 2022) 
 Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain (GRID:grid.410367.7) (ISNI:0000 0001 2284 9230); Muséum National d’histoire Naturelle, Paris, France (GRID:grid.410350.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2174 9334); Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social, Tarragona, Spain (GRID:grid.452421.4) 
10  Stetson University, DeLand, United States (GRID:grid.264307.4) (ISNI:0000 0000 9688 1551) 
11  University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (GRID:grid.7247.6) (ISNI:0000000419370714) 
12  Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina (GRID:grid.423606.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 1945 2152); Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, La Plata, La Plata, Argentina (GRID:grid.9499.d) (ISNI:0000 0001 2097 3940); School of Life Sciences and Human Phenome Institute Fudan University, Shanghai, China (GRID:grid.8547.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 0125 2443) 
13  Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia, Bogotá, Colombia (GRID:grid.8547.e) 
14  National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia (GRID:grid.10689.36) (ISNI:0000 0001 0286 3748) 
15  University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States (GRID:grid.170430.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 2859) 
16  Arizona State University, Tempe, United States (GRID:grid.215654.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2151 2636) 
17  University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States (GRID:grid.25879.31) (ISNI:0000 0004 1936 8972) 
18  Baylor University, Waco, United States (GRID:grid.252890.4) (ISNI:0000 0001 2111 2894) 
Publication year
2020
Publication date
2020
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2408512442
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.