These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Comprehensive study of mtDNA among Southwest Asian dogs contradicts independent domestication of wolf, but implies dog–wolf hybridization
Article first published online: 18 OCT 2011
DOI: 10.1002/ece3.35
© 2011 The Authors. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Additional Information
How to Cite
Ardalan, A., Kluetsch, C. F. C., Zhang, A.-b., Erdogan, M., Uhlén, M., Houshmand, M., Tepeli, C., Ashtiani, S. R. M. and Savolainen, P. (2011), Comprehensive study of mtDNA among Southwest Asian dogs contradicts independent domestication of wolf, but implies dog–wolf hybridization. Ecology and Evolution, 1: 373–385. doi: 10.1002/ece3.35
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These authors contributed equally to this work.
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Current address: Biology Department, Trent University, K9J7B8 Peterborough, Canada.
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Current address: College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 100048 Beijing, PR China.
Funded by the National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB) of Iran, grants from the Swedish Research Council, OE and Edla Johanssons Scientific Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundations. Peter Savolainen is a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Research Fellow supported by a grant from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 16 NOV 2011
- Article first published online: 18 OCT 2011
- Received: 7 July 2011; Revised: 16 August 2011; Accepted: 17 August 2011
Keywords:
- Canis familiaris;
- domestication;
- fertile crescent;
- hybridization;
- mitochondrial DNA
Abstract
Studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity indicate explicitly that dogs were domesticated, probably exclusively, in southern East Asia. However, Southwest Asia (SwAsia) has had poor representation and geographical coverage in these studies. Other studies based on archaeological and genome-wide SNP data have suggested an origin of dogs in SwAsia. Hence, it has been suspected that mtDNA evidence for this scenario may have remained undetected. In the first comprehensive investigation of genetic diversity among SwAsian dogs, we analyzed 582 bp of mtDNA for 345 indigenous dogs from across SwAsia, and compared with 1556 dogs across the Old World. We show that 97.4% of SwAsian dogs carry haplotypes belonging to a universal mtDNA gene pool, but that only a subset of this pool, five of the 10 principal haplogroups, is represented in SwAsia. A high frequency of haplogroup B, potentially signifying a local origin, was not paralleled with the high genetic diversity expected for a center of origin. Meanwhile, 2.6% of the SwAsian dogs carried the rare non-universal haplogroup d2. Thus, mtDNA data give no indication that dogs originated in SwAsia through independent domestication of wolf, but dog–wolf hybridization may have formed the local haplogroup d2 within this region. Southern East Asia remains the only region with virtually full extent of genetic variation, strongly indicating it to be the primary and probably sole center of wolf domestication. An origin of dogs in southern East Asia may have been overlooked by other studies due to a substantial lack of samples from this region.