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A study published in the journal Science offers a better view of the origins and ultimate fate of the first dogs of the Americas. The dogs were not domesticated North American wolves, as some speculate, but they probably followed their human counterparts on a land bridge that formerly connected Northeast Asia and the Americas, according to L & # 39; study.
This is the first comprehensive genomic study of ancient dogs in the Americas to badyze nuclear DNA, inherited from both parents, as well as mitochondrial DNA transmitted only from the mother to her offspring . By comparing the genomic signatures of the 71 mitochondrial genomes and the seven nuclear genomes of old North American and Siberian dogs covering a period of 9,000 years, the research team was able to get a better idea of the 39, history of the first inhabitants of the Americas.
The oldest dog remains in the Americas about 9,000 years ago, several thousand years after people started migrating on a land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska with 39; aujourd & # 39; hui. The old dogs badyzed in the new study probably came from Siberia, the researchers found. Dogs scattered throughout all parts of the Americas, migrating with their human counterparts.
These dogs persisted for thousands of years in the Americas, but they almost disappeared after contact with the Europeans,
"said senior author, Lawrence Frantz, in charge of Course at Queen Mary University and co-investigator at Oxford University. "But we simply do not have the evidence to explain this sudden disappearance for the moment."
"By examining the genomic data with the mitochondrial data, we were able to confirm that the dogs came to America with humans, and that almost all that diversity was lost – probably because of European colonization," Kelsey said. Witt, who led the work on the genome of mitochondrial DNA as a graduate student of the Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Illinois, Ripan Malhi, also author from the study
"Few modern dogs have any trace of these ancient lineages". said Witt, now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Merced.
The team also discovered that the genomic signature of a transmissible cancer that afflicts dogs appears to be one of the last "living" remains of the genetic heritage of dogs. which populated the Americas before European contact.
"This suggests that this tumor was born in or near the Americas," said Witt.
New discoveries reinforce the idea that the first human inhabitants and dogs of the Americas faced the same challenges after contact with Europeans, said Malhi
"We know how the indigenous peoples of the Americas suffered genocidal practices of European Colonies after contact, "he said. "What we have found is that the dogs of the indigenous peoples have had an even more devastating history and almost total loss, perhaps as a result of forced cultural changes and diseases."
Learn more:
The study of ancient dogs from the Americas provides insights into human and canine migration
More information:
Mr. Ni Leathlobhair et al., "The Evolutionary History of Dogs in the Americas," Science (2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126 / science.aao4776
L. Goodman et al., "The Lost Dogs of America", Science (2018). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126 / science.aau1306
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