Abstract: Disease At The Dawn Of Domestication - How Livestock Herding May Have Shepherded Pathogen Evolution

Much attention has been paid to the possibility that the emergence of animal herding economies in Southwest Asia approximately 10,000 years ago drove the emergence or occurrence of zoonotic infections from livestock. However, less attention has been paid 

to the evolutionary and epidemiological implications for livestock species themselves and the pathogens which infected them. This presentation will address this deficit, including an in depth case study of a 8,000 year old Brucella melitensis genome. 

About the speaker: 

Dr Kevin Daly is an Ad Astra Fellow - Lecturer/Assistant Professor at UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor at Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin. His group’s research interests are the consequences of ruminant domestication and human activity on livestock evolution, assessed using palaeogenomics.  Dr. Daly completed his PhD (with Daniel Bradley) and subsequent postdoctoral research in Trinity College Dublin, focusing on the domestication history of sheep and goat. Since 2022 he has held the "Herd Health" Research Ireland Pathways award, to investigate the occurrence of livestock pathogens in the world's earliest goat herds. From 2026 he will lead the ERC Starter grant project "HERDPATH", exploring the co-evolution of livestock and their pathogens. Dr. Daly is also a member of Young Academy Ireland (YAI) and the steering committee of the Animal ancient DNA Research Community (AaRC).