[ENG] Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs

Authors: Anders Bergström, Laurent Frantz, Ryan Schmidt, Erik Ersmark, Ophelie Lebrasseur, Linus Girdland-Flink, Audrey T. Lin, Jan Storå, Karl-Göran Sjögren, David Anthony, Ekaterina Antipina, Sarieh Amiri, Guy Bar-Oz, Vladimir I. Bazaliiskii, Jelena Bulatović, Dorcas Brown, Alberto Carmagnini, Tom Davy, Sergey Fedorov, Ivana Fiore, Deirdre Fulton, Mietje Germonprè, James, Evan K. Irving-Pease, Alexandra Jamieson, Luc Janssens, Irina Kirillova, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Julka Kuzmanovic-Cvetković, Yaroslav Kuzmin, Robert J. Losey, Daria Ložnjak Dizdar, Marjan Mashkour, Mario Novak, Vedat Onar, David Orton, Maja Pasarić, Miljana Radivojević, Dragana Rajković, Benjamin Roberts, Hannah Ryan, Mikhail Sablin, Fedor Shidlovskiy, Ivana Stojanović, Antonio Tagliacozzo, Katerina Trantalidou, Inga Ullén, Aritza Villaluenga, Paula Wapnish, Keith Dobney, Anders Götherström, Anna Linderholm, Love Dalén, Ron Pinhasi, Greger Larson, Pontus Skoglund

Dogs were the first domestic animal, but little is known about the history of their population and the degree to which it was linked to humans. The sequencing of 27 ancient dog genomes has revealed that all dogs they share a common ancestry, distinct from wolves today, with a limited gene flow between wolves and dogs from the time of their domestication, but with a significant flow of genes in the reverse direction, from dog to wolf.

Five main lineages have been identified, the oldest dating back to 11,000 years ago. These lineages have diversified over time, demonstrating a deep and complex genetic history of dogs with a beginning in the Upper Paleolithic.

Parallel analysis of human genomes reveals evolutionary coincidences between dog populations and human groups. It is worth noting the origin in the Middle East of the current African dogs or the agricultural expansion through Europe together with the first producing populations. This is the case of Marizulo cave's (Gipuzkoa), dog remains, dated 6200 years before the present and included in this paper.

Eventually a last population of dogs spread across Europe and supplanted earlier animals. The latter came from the steppes of Eastern Europe associated with cultural groups of the Calcolithic and Bronze ages.

Reference:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6516/557?ijkey=08b562c255029a21fb89f99a3146ed91016295a1&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha&fbclid=IwAR3T3cLh_8XHh3SML1Nr-ptGhshohk2Du4jCs8E732RRW_80oQCwIU5CHeI