The spread of farming into the Northern Mediterranean was frequently analysed through maternal and paternal DNA lineages of humans and domestic animals, as an important topic for understanding the Neolitic agricultural revolution. We analyzed mitochondrial DNA (partly control region and 12S rRNA coding region and fully tRNAPhe) and specifi c Y chromosome (microsatellite SRYM18 and SNP AY604734.2:g.67A>G) polymorphisms of 159 domestic sheep (9 breeds) and 21 moufl on (Ovis musimon) rams sampled from Eastern Adriatic, all along Croatian cost. Maternal and paternal lineages for, both, sheep and moufl on rams indicated ancestral homogeneity, with extensive variation around most frequent haplotypes. We indentifi ed 70 mtDNA haplotypes, including one new present only in moufl ons, and fi ve Y chromosome haplotypes, including H18 here described for the fi rst time (SRYM18 with 135). The large number of sheep (96.9%) and moufl on (100%) rams had haplotypes classifi ed in mtDNA haplogroup B. More precisely, there was 26.4% of sheep rams with H3 haplotype while 37.1%, 20.8% and 7.6% of rams had haplotypes that were one, two and three mutations remote, respectively. The remaining fi ve sheep rams had haplotypes classifi ed in mtDNA haplogroup A. Similarly, 89.3% of sheep and 100% of moufl on rams had Y chromosome haplotype H6 while seven, fi ve, three and two rams had haplotypes H8, H18, H7 and H5, respectively. Our study shows that present sheep populations of Eastern Adriatic, with exception of several rams that are indicating remote origin, are homogenous and belong to the lineages characteristic for European sheep populations.

Poljoprivreda,Biologija