Ice Age Wolf DNA Reveals Dogs Trace Ancestry to Two Separate Wolf Populations
Published:14 Jul.2022 Source:The Francis Crick Institute
Dogs are known to have originated from the gray wolf, with this domestication occurring during the Ice Age, at least 15,000 years ago. But where this happened, and if it occurred in one single location or in multiple places, is still unknown. Previous studies using the archaeological record and comparing the DNA of dogs and modern wolves have not found the answer.
In their study, published in Nature today (29 June), the researchers turned to ancient wolf genomes to further understanding of where the first dogs evolved from wolves. They analysed 72 ancient wolf genomes, spanning the last 100,000 years, from Europe, Siberia and North America. The remains came from previously excavated ancient wolves, with archaeologists from 38 institutions in 16 different countries contributing to the study. The remains included a full, perfectly preserved head from a Siberian wolf that lived 32,000 years ago. Nine different ancient DNA labs then collaborated on generating DNA sequence data from the wolves.