Demographic history, cold adaptation, and recent NRAP recurrent convergent evolution at amino acid residue 100 in the world northernmost cattle from Russia

Native cattle breeds represent an important cultural heritage. They are a reservoir of genetic variation useful for properly responding to agriculture needs in light of ongoing climate changes. Evolutionary processes that occur in response to extreme environmental conditions could also be better understood using adapted local populations. Herein, different evolutionary histories for two of the world northernmost native cattle breeds from Russia were investigated. They highlighted Kholmogory as a typical taurine cattle, while Yakut cattle separated from European taurines ~5,000 years ago and contain numerous ancestral and some novel genetic variants allowing their adaptation to harsh conditions of living above the Polar Circle. Scans for selection signatures pointed to several common gene pathways related to adaptation to harsh climates in both breeds. But genes affected by selection from these pathways were mostly different. A Yakut cattle breed-specific missense mutation, H100Q, in a highly conserved NRAP gene, represents a unique example of a young amino acid residue convergent change shared with at least 16 species of hibernating/cold-adapted mammals from nine distinct phylogenetic orders. This suggests a convergent evolution event along the mammalian phylogenetic tree and fast fixation in a single isolated cattle population exposed to a harsh climate.