Biology subjects

Oueslati, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Oueslati, T..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The dispersal of domestic cats from Northern Africa and their introduction to Europe over the last two millennia

The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat subspecies Felis lybica lybica. Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful adaptation to anthropogenic environments. Uncertainty remains regarding whether domestic cats originated in the Levant, Egypt or elsewhere in its natural range, and on the timing and circumstances of their dispersal into Europe. By analysing 87 ancient and modern cat genomes, we demonstrate that domestic cats did not spread to Europe with Neolithic farmers, as previously thought. Conversely, our results suggest that they were introduced to Europe over the last 2,000 years, most likely from North Africa. We also demonstrate that a separate earlier (1st millennium BCE) introduction of wildcats from Northwest Africa originated the present-day wild population in Sardinia.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Low-invasive sampling method for taxonomic for the identification of archaeological and paleontological bones by proteomics of their collagens

Collagen from paleontological bones is an important organic material for isotopic measurement, radiocarbon and paleoproteomic analyzes, to provide information on diet, dating and taxonomy. Current paleoproteomics methods are destructive and require from a few milligrams to several tenths of milligrams of bone for analysis. In many cultures, bones are raw materials for artefact which are conserved in museum which hampers to damage these precious objects during sampling. Here, we describe a low-invasive sampling method that identifies collagen, taxonomy and post-translational modifications from Holocene and Upper Pleistocene bones dated to 130,000 and 150 BC using dermatological skin tape-discs for sampling. The sampled bone micro-powders were digested following our highly optimized eFASP protocol, then analyzed by MALDI FTICR MS and LC-MS/MS for identifying the genus taxa of the bones. We show that this low-invasive sampling does not deteriorate the bones and achieves results similar to those obtained by more destructive sampling. Moreover, this sampling method can be performed at archaeological sites or in museums.

paleontology↗

bioRxiv2021

Palaeogenomic analysis of black rat (Rattus rattus) reveals multiple European introductions associated with human economic history

The distribution of the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been heavily influenced by its association with humans. The dispersal history of this non-native commensal rodent across Europe, however, remains poorly understood, and different introductions may have occurred during the Roman and medieval periods. Here, in order to reconstruct the population history of European black rats, we generated a de novo genome assembly of the black rat, 67 ancient black rat mitogenomes and 36 ancient nuclear genomes from sites spanning the 1st-17th centuries CE in Europe and North Africa. Analyses of mitochondrial DNA confirm that black rats were introduced into the Mediterranean and Europe from Southwest Asia. Genomic analyses of the ancient rats reveal a population turnover in temperate Europe between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, coincident with an archaeologically attested decline in the black rat population. The near disappearance and re-emergence of black rats in Europe may have been the result of the breakdown of the Roman Empire, the First Plague Pandemic, and/or post-Roman climatic cooling.

evolutionary biology↗