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Brief Communication
Brief communication: DNA from early Holocene American dog
Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21526
Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Tito, R. Y., Belknap, S. L., Sobolik, K. D., Ingraham, R. C., Cleeland, L. M. and Lewis, C. M. (2011), Brief communication: DNA from early Holocene American dog. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol., 145: 653–657. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21526
Publication History
- Issue published online: 8 JUL 2011
- Article first published online: 3 MAY 2011
- Manuscript Accepted: 10 FEB 2011
- Manuscript Received: 9 NOV 2010
Funded by
- The University of Oklahoma's Molecular Anthropology Laboratories, National Science Foundation. Grant Number: NSF#0845314
- National Institutes of Health. Grant Number: NHGRI/NIH R01 HG005172-01
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- the Department of Anthropology
- Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine
- Department of Anthropology at the University of Maine provided the funding for AMS analysis
Keywords:
- canine domestication;
- peopling of America;
- Paleoamerican;
- Paleoindian;
- aDNA
Abstract
We present the oldest genetically identified dog in the Americas, directly dated to 9,260 ± 170 Cal. B.P. The DNA was extracted from an occipital condyle imbedded in a human paleofecal sample from Hinds Cave in southwest Texas. A 368 base pair fragment of the mitochondrial genome control region was sequenced. These data were analyzed with comparable data, which included other ancient dogs and extant dogs, wolves and coyotes from around the world. Compiled with published data, our results characterize ancient American dogs within clades rooted by Eurasian wolves. In the Americas, these data provide no evidence of local interbreeding with wolves. This is a departure from the genetic pattern in other areas of the world where interbreeding with local wolf populations is apparent. Our discovery of domestic dog bone in a human paleofecal sample provides the earliest direct evidence for human consumption of dogs in the New World. These data support the hypothesis that dogs were a food source for early Paleoamericans. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2011. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.