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\"1910: Twenty-five-year-old Daniel Pitt is a junior barrister in London and eager to prove himself, independent of his renowned detective father's influence. And the new case before him will be the test. When his client, arrogant biographer Russell Graves, is found guilty of murdering his wife, Daniel is dispatched by his superior to find the real killer before Graves faces the hangman's noose-- in only twenty-one days. Could the violent death have anything to do with Graves's profession? Someone in power may be framing the biographer to keep damaging secrets from coming to light. It is a theory that leads Daniel's investigation unexpectedly to London's Special Branch, and disturbingly, to one of his father's closest colleagues. Caught between duty to the law and a fierce desire to protect his family, Daniel must call on his keen intellect, and trust his detective's instincts, to find the truth in a tangle of dark deception. Lest an innocent man swing for another's heinous crime\"-- Provided by publisher.

The introduction of Iberian cattle in the Americas after Columbus’ arrival imposed high selection pressures on a limited number of animals over a brief period of time. Knowledge of the genomic regions selected during this process may help in enhancing climatic resilience and sustainable animal production. We first determined taurine and indicine contributions to the genomic structure of modern Creole cattle. Second, we inferred their demographic history using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), linkage disequilibrium (LD) and Ne Slope (NeS) analysis. Third, we performed whole genome scans for selection signatures based on cross‐population extended haplotype homozygosity (XP‐EHH) and population differentiation (FST) to disentangle the genetic mechanisms involved in adaptation and phenotypic change by a rapid and major environmental transition. To tackle these questions, we combined SNP array data (~54,000 SNPs) in Creole breeds with their modern putative Iberian ancestors. Reconstruction of the population history of Creoles from the end of the 15th century indicated a major demographic expansion until the introduction of zebu and commercial breeds into the Americas ~180 years ago, coinciding with a drastic Ne contraction. NeS analysis provided insights into short‐term complexity in population change and depicted a decrease/expansion episode at the end of the ABC‐inferred expansion, as well as several additional fluctuations in Ne with the attainment of the current small Ne only towards the end of the 20th century. Selection signatures for tropical adaptation pinpointed the thermoregulatory slick hair coat region, identifying a new candidate gene (GDNF), as well as novel candidate regions involved in immune function, behavioural processes, iron metabolism and adaptation to new feeding conditions. The outcomes from this study will help in future‐proofing farm animal genetic resources (FAnGR) by providing molecular tools that allow selection for improved cattle performance, resilience and welfare under climate change.

\"Daniel Pitt, along with his parents Charlotte and Thomas, is delighted that his sister Jemima has returned to London from the States for a visit. But it's not on the happiest of terms, since a violent theft just before her departure has left Jemima's good friend frightened and missing a treasured family heirloom. The thief appears to be a man named Sydney--a British diplomat stationed in America who, in a cowardly move, has fled to London, claiming diplomatic immunity. But when Daniel is forced to defend Sydney in court, he grows suspicious that he's not getting the whole story\"-- Provided by publisher.

Dromedaries have been fundamental to the development of human societies in arid landscapes and for long-distance trade across hostile hot terrains for 3,000 y. Today they continue to be an important livestock resource in marginal agro-ecological zones. However, the history of dromedary domestication and the influence of ancient trading networks on their genetic structure have remained elusive. We combined ancient DNA sequences of wild and early-domesticated dromedary samples from arid regions with nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial genotype information from 1,083 extant animals collected across the species’ range. We observe little phylogeographic signal in the modern population, indicative of extensive gene flow and virtually affecting all regions except East Africa, where dromedary populations have remained relatively isolated. In agreement with archaeological findings, we identify wild dromedaries from the southeast Arabian Peninsula among the founders of the domestic dromedary gene pool. Approximate Bayesian computations further support the “restocking from the wild” hypothesis, with an initial domestication followed by introgression from individuals from wild, now-extinct populations. Compared with other livestock, which show a long history of gene flow with their wild ancestors, we find a high initial diversity relative to the native distribution of the wild ancestor on the Arabian Peninsula and to the brief coexistence of early-domesticated and wild individuals. This study also demonstrates the potential to retrieve ancient DNA sequences from osseous remains excavated in hot and dry desert environments.

Cattle have been invaluable for the transition of human society from nomadic hunter‐gatherers to sedentary farming communities throughout much of Europe, Asia and Africa since the earliest domestication of cattle more than 10,000 years ago. Although current understanding of relationships among ancestral populations remains limited, domestication of cattle is thought to have occurred on two or three occasions, giving rise to the taurine (Bos taurus) and indicine (Bos indicus) species that share the aurochs (Bos primigenius) as common ancestor ~250,000 years ago. Indicine and taurine cattle were domesticated in the Indus Valley and Fertile Crescent, respectively; however, an additional domestication event for taurine in the Western Desert of Egypt has also been proposed. We analysed medium density Illumina Bovine SNP array (~54,000 loci) data across 3,196 individuals, representing 180 taurine and indicine populations to investigate population structure within and between populations, and domestication and demographic dynamics using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). Comparative analyses between scenarios modelling two and three domestication events consistently favour a model with only two episodes and suggest that the additional genetic variation component usually detected in African taurine cattle may be explained by hybridization with local aurochs in Africa after the domestication of taurine cattle in the Fertile Crescent. African indicine cattle exhibit high levels of shared genetic variation with Asian indicine cattle due to their recent divergence and with African taurine cattle through relatively recent gene flow. Scenarios with unidirectional or bidirectional migratory events between European taurine and Asian indicine cattle are also plausible, although further studies are needed to disentangle the complex human‐mediated dispersion patterns of domestic cattle. This study therefore helps to clarify the effect of past demographic history on the genetic variation of modern cattle, providing a basis for further analyses exploring alternative migratory routes for early domestic populations.

Livestock have been a cornerstone to human sustenance, wealth, culture, and production for over 10,000 years. Each contemporary livestock species is comprised of a vast assemblage of locally adapted breeds containing unique genetic variation. While most of this variation remains uncharacterised, understanding the genetic diversity is highly valuable in conserving and improving extant livestock breeds. Chapters two to four utilise SNP array data comprised of tens of thousands of loci distributed relatively uniformly across the genome. Firstly, the demographic history of taurine (Bos taurus) and indicine (Bos indicus) cattle was modelled with approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to determine if domestication occurred across two or three independent events, with model rejection sampling indicating only two domestications took place. Additionally, characterising population structure, admixture, and gene flow to identify migratory events and potential sources adaptive introgression. Secondly, the 15th century colonisation of the Americas by taurine Creole cattle from their putative Iberian ancestors was modelled using ABC. Identifying a founding effective population size (Ne) of 84, followed by a large demographic expansion and subsequent contraction, with higher resolution of recent demographic fluctuations visualised with Ne Slope (NeS) analysis. Furthermore, signals of selective sweeps were scanned for, identifying loci important for tropical adaptation including suggesting a new candidate gene (GDNF) for the slick hair coat phenotype. Thirdly, population structure and selective signals were identified in Ryeland sheep (Ovis aries), which is a resilient and ancient British breed. Haplotype-based detection of selective sweeps and landscape genomics which incorporated environmental, land use, and topographical data identified prominent pathways involved in prion disease pathways and cancer regulation (specifically hepatocellular carcinoma); environmental associations indicate selection may be driven by liver fluke abundance. The final data chapter utilises whole-genome resequencing (WGRS) data to identify SNPs in the feral Chillingham cattle (Bos taurus) herd which has been isolated from gene flow for at least 300 years with minimal management. WGRS bypasses most ascertainment biases inherent to SNP arrays, allowing a more comprehensive characterisation of variation - identifying consistently long runs of homozygosity interspersed with islands of excess heterozygosity. Heterozygous peak windows were putatively maintained by balancing selection and were enriched with quantitative trait loci associated with fertility and milk. Unexpectedly, the major histocompatibility regions were almost absent of SNP variation in Chillingham.