Dogs were domesticated not once, buttwice... in different parts of the world,research shows2 June 2016

Tame Grønlandshund in Upernavik, Greenland. Credit:Wikipedia

The question, 'Where do domestic dogs comefrom?', has vexed scholars for a very long time.Some argue that humans first domesticated wolvesin Europe, while others claim this happened inCentral Asia or China. A new paper, published in Science, suggests that all these claims may beright. Supported by funding from the EuropeanResearch Council and the Natural EnvironmentResearch Council, a large international team ofscientists compared genetic data with existingarchaeological evidence and show that man's bestfriend may have emerged independently from twoseparate (possibly now extinct) wolf populationsthat lived on opposite sides of the Eurasiancontinent. This means that dogs may have beendomesticated not once, as widely believed, buttwice.

A major international research project on dogdomestication, led by the University of Oxford, has

reconstructed the evolutionary history of dogs byfirst sequencing the genome (at Trinity CollegeDublin) of a 4,800-year old medium-sized dog frombone excavated at the Neolithic Passage Tomb ofNewgrange, Ireland. The team (including Frenchresearchers based in Lyon and at the NationalMuseum of Natural History in Paris) also obtainedmitochondrial DNA from 59 ancient dogs livingbetween 14,000 to 3,000 years ago and thencompared them with the genetic signatures of morethan 2,500 previously studied modern dogs.

The results of their analyses demonstrate a geneticseparation between modern dog populationscurrently living in East Asia and Europe. Curiously,this population split seems to have taken placeafter the earliest archaeological evidence for dogsin Europe. The new genetic evidence also shows apopulation turnover in Europe that appears to havemostly replaced the earliest domestic dogpopulation there, which supports the evidence thatthere was a later arrival of dogs from elsewhere.Lastly, a review of the archaeological record showsthat early dogs appear in both the East and Westmore than 12,000 years ago, but in Central Asia noearlier than 8,000 years ago.

Combined, these new findings suggest that dogswere first domesticated from geographicallyseparated wolf populations on opposite sides of theEurasian continent. At some point after theirdomestication, the eastern dogs dispersed withmigrating humans into Europe where they mixedwith and mostly replaced the earliest Europeandogs. Most dogs today are a mixture of bothEastern and Western dogs—one reason whyprevious genetic studies have been difficult tointerpret.

The international project (which is combiningancient and modern genetic data with detailed

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morphological and archaeological research) iscurrently analysing thousands of ancient dogs andwolves to test this new perspective, and toestablish the timing and location of the origins ofour oldest pet.

Senior author and Director of Palaeo-BARN (theWellcome Trust Palaeogenomics & Bio-Archaeology Research Network) at OxfordUniversity, Professor Greger Larson, said: 'Animaldomestication is a rare thing and a lot of evidenceis required to overturn the assumption that ithappened just once in any species. Our ancientDNA evidence, combined with the archaeologicalrecord of early dogs, suggests that we need toreconsider the number of times dogs weredomesticated independently. Maybe the reasonthere hasn't yet been a consensus about wheredogs were domesticated is because everyone hasbeen a little bit right.'

Lead author Dr Laurent Frantz, from the Palaeo-BARN, commented: 'Reconstructing the past frommodern DNA is a bit like looking into the historybooks: you never know whether crucial parts havebeen erased. Ancient DNA, on the other hand, islike a time machine, and allows us to observe thepast directly.'

Senior author Professor Dan Bradley, from TrinityCollege Dublin, commented: 'The Newgrange dogbone had the best preserved ancient DNA we haveever encountered, giving us prehistoric genome ofrare high quality. It is not just a postcard from thepast, rather a full package special delivery.'

Professor Keith Dobney, co-author and co-directorof the dog domestication project from LiverpoolUniversity's Department of Archaeology, Classicsand Egyptology, is heartened by these firstsignificant results. 'With the generous collaborationof many colleagues from across the world-sharingideas, key specimens and their own data—thegenetic and archaeological evidence are nowbeginning to tell a new coherent story. With somuch new and exciting data to come, we will finallybe able to uncover the true history of man's bestfriend.'

More information: "Genomic and archaeological

evidence suggests a dual origin of domestic dogs," Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3161

Provided by University of Oxford

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APA citation: Dogs were domesticated not once, but twice... in different parts of the world, researchshows (2016, June 2) retrieved 1 June 2018 from https://phys.org/news/2016-06-dogs-domesticated-world.html

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