Genomes of Pleistocene Siberian Wolves Uncover Multiple Extinct Wolf Lineages

Extant Canis lupus genetic diversity can be grouped into three phylogenetically distinct clades: Eurasian and American wolves and domestic dogs.1 Genetic studies have suggested these groups trace their origins to a wolf population that expanded during the last glacial maximum (LGM)1–3 and replaced l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current biology 2021-01, Vol.31 (1), p.198-206.e8
Main Authors: Ramos-Madrigal, Jazmín, Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S., Carøe, Christian, Mak, Sarah S.T., Niemann, Jonas, Samaniego Castruita, José A., Fedorov, Sergey, Kandyba, Alexander, Germonpré, Mietje, Bocherens, Hervé, Feuerborn, Tatiana R., Pitulko, Vladimir V., Pavlova, Elena Y., Nikolskiy, Pavel A., Kasparov, Aleksei K., Ivanova, Varvara V., Larson, Greger, Frantz, Laurent A.F., Willerslev, Eske, Meldgaard, Morten, Petersen, Bent, Sicheritz-Ponten, Thomas, Bachmann, Lutz, Wiig, Øystein, Hansen, Anders J., Gilbert, M. Thomas P., Gopalakrishnan, Shyam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ancient DNA
dog domestication
palaeogenomics
paleolithic dog
Pleistocene biodiversity
Pleistocene Siberia
Siberian canids
wolf genomics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Extant Canis lupus genetic diversity can be grouped into three phylogenetically distinct clades: Eurasian and American wolves and domestic dogs.1 Genetic studies have suggested these groups trace their origins to a wolf population that expanded during the last glacial maximum (LGM)1–3 and replaced local wolf populations.4 Moreover, ancient genomes from the Yana basin and the Taimyr peninsula provided evidence of at least one extinct wolf lineage that dwelled in Siberia during the Pleistocene.35 Previous studies have suggested that Pleistocene Siberian canids can be classified into two groups based on cranial morphology. Wolves in the first group are most similar to present-day populations, although those in the second group possess intermediate features between dogs and wolves.67 However, whether this morphological classification represents distinct genetic groups remains unknown. To investigate this question and the relationships between Pleistocene canids, present-day wolves, and dogs, we resequenced the genomes of four Pleistocene canids from Northeast Siberia dated between >50 and 14 ka old, including samples from the two morphological categories. We found these specimens cluster with the two previously sequenced Pleistocene wolves, which are genetically more similar to Eurasian wolves. Our results show that, though the four specimens represent extinct wolf lineages, they do not form a monophyletic group. Instead, each Pleistocene Siberian canid branched off the lineage that gave rise to present-day wolves and dogs. Finally, our results suggest the two previously described morphological groups could represent independent lineages similarly related to present-day wolves and dogs. [Display omitted] •Pleistocene Siberian wolves represent multiple extinct evolutionary lineages•Pleistocene wolves share ancestry with arctic dogs and some East Asian wolves•A Paleolithic dog specimen is genetically similar to other Pleistocene wolves Ramos-Madrigal et al. sequence the genomes of four Pleistocene Siberian wolves, two of which have divergent cranial morphologies. These canids represent multiple extinct lineages that dwelled in Siberia >50 ka ago and at least until 14.1 ka ago and that contributed to the genetic ancestry of arctic dogs and some East Asian wolves.
ISSN:0960-9822
1879-0445
1879-0445
DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.002