Dog-Wolf Family Tree More Complex Than Scientists Thought b4in.org/q08I According to popular belief, all of today’s dog breeds are descended from wolves domesticated thousands of years ago. However, a new study published on Thursday in PLOS Genetics has found that today’s dogs are more closely related to each other than they are to wolves – an indication that dogs were domesticated after they diverged from wolves. “Dog domestication is more complex than we originally thought,” said study author John Novembre, associate professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago. “In this analysis we didn’t see clear evidence in favor of a multi-regional model, or a single origin from one of the living wolves that we sampled. It makes the field of dog domestication very intriguing going forward.” To reach their findings, the international team generated high quality genome sequences from three gray wolves: one each from China, Croatia and Israel. The team chose these regions because they are thought to be where dogs originated. The researchers also sequenced genomes for two dog breeds: a basenji, which came out of central Africa, and an Australian dingo, from regions that have been historically isolated from modern wolf populations. Geneticists working on the study also sequenced the genome of a golden jackal as an ‘outgroup’ of earlier canine divergence. More b4in.org/q08I
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 18:24:56 +0000
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