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Aurochs (Bos primigenius), once widely distributed in Afro-Eurasia, became extinct in the early 1600 s. However, their phylogeography and relative contributions to domestic cattle remain unknown. In this study, we analyzed 16 genomes of ancient aurochs and three mitogenomes of ancient bison (Bison priscus) excavated in East Asia, dating from 43,000 to 3,590 years ago. These newly generated data with previously published genomic information on aurochs as well as ancient/extant domestic cattle worldwide through genome analysis. Our findings revealed significant genetic divergence between East Asian aurochs and their European, Near Eastern, and African counterparts on the basis of both mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data. Furthermore, we identified evidence of gene flow from East Asian aurochs into ancient and present-day taurine cattle, suggesting their potential role in facilitating the environmental adaptation of domestic cattle., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Past human genetic diversity and migration between southern China and Southeast Asia have not been well characterized, in part due to poor preservation of ancient DNA in hot and humid regions. We sequenced 31 ancient genomes from southern China (Guangxi and Fujian), including two ∼12,000- to 10,000-year-old individuals representing the oldest humans sequenced from southern China. We discovered a deeply diverged East Asian ancestry in the Guangxi region that persisted until at least 6,000 years ago. We found that ∼9,000- to 6,000-year-old Guangxi populations were a mixture of local ancestry, southern ancestry previously sampled in Fujian, and deep Asian ancestry related to Southeast Asian Hòabìnhian hunter-gatherers, showing broad admixture in the region predating the appearance of farming. Historical Guangxi populations dating to ∼1,500 to 500 years ago are closely related to Tai-Kadai and Hmong-Mien speakers. Our results show heavy interactions among three distinct ancestries at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)