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Dog Heritage
Name: Helena
Status: Other
Grade: Other
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: August 2005
Question:
What are the latest news about dogs
origins using nuclear DNA...can we prove that the wolf is the only
ancestor?
Replies:
Hi Helena!
What a pleasure answering a question from my country!
Because i am brazilian and live in Brasil.
Even a am not a biologist or so i looked into Internet
and found an interesting paper from SCIENCE, VOL. 276
13 JUNE 1997 dealing exactly with your question.
Authors: Robert K. Wayne et al.
It is not so up to date, almost 10 years old but it
gives some good idea:
"The archaeological record cannot resolve whether
domestic dogs originated from a single wolf population
or arose from multiple populations at different times
. However, circumstantial evidence suggests that dogs
may have diverse origins. During most of the late
Pleistocene, humans and wolves coexisted over a wide
geographic area, providing ample opportunity for
independent domestication events and continued genetic
exchange between wolves and dogs. The extreme
phenotypic diversity of dogs, even during the early
stages of domestication also suggests a varied
genetic heritage. Consequently, the genetic diversity
of dogs may have been enriched by multiple founding
events, possibly followed by occasional interbreeding
with wild wolf populations."
"We sequenced portions of the mitochondrial DNA of
wolves and domestic dogs. Initially, 261 base pairs
(bp) of the left domain of the mitochondrial control
region (5) were sequenced from 140 dogs representing
67 breeds and five cross-breeds and 162 wolves
representing 27 populations from throughout Europe,
Asia, and North America. Because all wild species of
the genus Canis can interbreed and thus are potential
ancestors of the domestic dog, five coyotes (Canis
latrans) and two golden, two black-backed, and eight
Simien jackals (C. aureus, C. mesomelas, and C.
simensis, respectively) were also sequenced."
As a full even simplified conclusion of the
mitochondrial DNA analysis it was found that:
"No dog sequence differed from any wolf sequence by
more than 12 substitutions, whereas dogs differed from
coyotes and jackals by at least 20 substitutions and
two insertions. These results clearly support wolf
ancestry for dogs. However, because mitochondrial DNA
is maternally inherited, interbreeding between female
dogs and male coyotes or jackals would not be
detected. More limited studies of nuclear markers
support the conclusion that the wolf was the ancestor
of the domestic dog."
Thanks for asking NEWTON! and i hope to see you again!
Volte com outras perguntas!
Mabel
(Dr. Mabel M. Rodrigues)
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Update: June 2012
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