The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas

Máire Ní Leathlobhair, Angela R Perri, Evan K Irving-Pease, Kelsey E Witt, Anna Linderholm, James Haile, Ophelie Lebrasseur, Carly Ameen, Jeffrey Blick, Adam R Boyko, Selina Brace, Yahaira Nunes Cortes, Susan J Crockford, Alison Devault, Evangelos A Dimopoulos, Morley Eldridge, Jacob Enk, Shyam Gopalakrishnan, Kevin Gori, Vaughan GrimesEric Guiry, Anders J Hansen, Ardern Hulme-Beaman, John Johnson, Andrew Kitchen, Aleksei K Kasparov, Young-Mi Kwon, Pavel A Nikolskiy, Carlos Peraza Lope, Aurélie Manin, Terrance Martin, Michael Meyer, Kelsey Noack Myers, Mark Omura, Jean-Marie Rouillard, Elena Y Pavlova, Paul Sciulli, Mikkel-Holger S Sinding, Andrea Strakova, Varvara V Ivanova, Christopher Widga, Eske Willerslev, Vladimir V Pitulko, Ian Barnes, M Thomas P Gilbert, Keith M Dobney, Ripan S Malhi, Elizabeth P Murchison, Greger Larson, Laurent A F Frantz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

105 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Dogs were present in the Americas before the arrival of European colonists, but the origin and fate of these precontact dogs are largely unknown. We sequenced 71 mitochondrial and 7 nuclear genomes from ancient North American and Siberian dogs from time frames spanning ~9000 years. Our analysis indicates that American dogs were not derived from North American wolves. Instead, American dogs form a monophyletic lineage that likely originated in Siberia and dispersed into the Americas alongside people. After the arrival of Europeans, native American dogs almost completely disappeared, leaving a minimal genetic legacy in modern dog populations. The closest detectable extant lineage to precontact American dogs is the canine transmissible venereal tumor, a contagious cancer clone derived from an individual dog that lived up to 8000 years ago.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)81-85
Number of pages5
JournalScience
Volume361
Issue number6397
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jul 2018

Bibliographical note

licence to publish: http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/lic_info.pdf

Keywords

  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

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