Scientists have discovered how people domesticated dogs – BBC

French naturalist and prominent expert in the field of zoology, Georges Cuvier, who lived at the turn of XVIII – XIX centuries, once said: “The dog is the most wonderful, perfect and useful of all the acquisitions that have ever made man»

However, among scientists still disagree about how it was the domestication of the dog

<-.! place 7944623, / science / 2015/12 /10_a_7944623.shtml,nm2015/v2/article/incut,incut1_link ->

Recently, researchers conducted another study dogs genome to determine how, where and when a person has acquired a four-legged friend. Extensive scientific work has combined geneticists from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, USA, Sweden, Hungary and Romania. The international team of researchers went and Russian scientist – Michael Sablin, the Institute of Zoology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Full text of the article was published in the latest issue of the journal Science.

Previously, such studies have repeatedly carried out. However, despite the long history of the study, to determine the exact time and place of the domestication of four-legged friends a person has not yet succeeded. Some zoologists believe that man domesticated the dog already in the late Upper Paleolithic, about 30 thousand. Years ago. With regard to where it happened, and there is no consensus: as the scientists put forward options for Europe, Middle East and Asia. scientists continue to argue about how many steps numbered process of domestication, bowing to what happened once

However, in the history of the four-legged friends a person has and what little:. Unclear and details domestication process is no doubt among scientists: they tend to believe that

most ancient kind of pet dogs appeared in Europe 15 thousand years ago, and in Asia – 12.5 thousand.. years ago.

In the latest study scientists team analyzed 59 sequences of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of ancient dogs that lived in the territory of modern Europe 14-3 thousand. years ago. Mitochondrial DNA as its name implies, is located in the mitochondria of cells, and the vast majority of multicellular organisms is inherited maternally. Selecting instead nuclear mtDNA (located in the nuclei of cells and is composed of DNA molecules contained in the chromosomes of all cells) caused objective of this study. “Parent” DNA carries information on the haplotype of each individual species. (Haplotype – a set of all forms of the same gene on one chromosome loci)

<-.! Place 8231357, / science / 2016/05 / 13_a_8231357.shtml, nm2015 / v2 / article / incut, incut2_link - ->

Comparing different haplotypes, researchers combined them into haplogroup – they can report to a genealogical branch applies the studied species, as well as supporting the place of its occurrence. “Reading” the DNA of ancient dogs, the scientists compared the data with the genetic material of wolves and several hundred relatively recently bred breeds of dogs, common in Europe and Asia, particularly in China, on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the western part of Siberia.

In the course of work, scientists have found a lot of interesting facts. So, it turned out that Saarloos Wolfdog, obtained in 1930 by crossing the wolf and German shepherd, for a set of genes is very different from other breeds. These data will help scientists more accurately determine the location of the breed, among other species. Also on the basis of genetic data, the researchers hypothesized that the Greenland dogs and Siberian Huskies have a mixed origin:

most likely ancestors of tetrapods were from different regions. It was eventually determined that genetic material sobak- “Asians” and “Europeans” is very different to each other.

In addition, the researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis of the genome (28 chromosomes) ancient hunting breed Irish wolfhounds. Previously, this type of DNA has been extracted from remains found in the territory of Newgrange, near Dublin. By the way, Newgrange is also interesting and the oldest surviving religious buildings, which date back to 3 millennium BC. . Specific Irish breed of dog that is supposed to be brought in the Neolithic period, about 4.8 thousand years ago, also referred to as volfhundom – literally the name means “wolf-dog.” Outwardly, however, Irish wolfhounds little resemblance to their closest relatives – except that the gray coat color. Among other breeds volfhundy stand out for their size, almost catching up on the growth of the pony. The breed is even featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest height at the withers volfhunda can reach 90 cm

<- place 5753341, / science / 2013/11 / 15_a_5753341.shtml, nm2015 / v2 / article / incut,.! incut3_link ->

Like almost five thousand years ago, and now Irish wolfhounds differ endurance and strength. On the hunt, they helped the Celts to deal with wolves and wild boars, and a few dogs could overcome and bear. Ancient Irish are very honored their pets and legends about the appearance of the breed. According to one tradition, the druid loved the beautiful princess, but she does not reciprocate. Then he got angry and turned the proud girl in the dog. So far, about volfhundah they say they have wayward nature, the human mind and the royal blood.

The results of genetic analysis of ancient Irish dogs showed that all her relatives lived in Europe .

In turn, this shows that clade (group of organisms with a common ancestor), who lived at opposite ends of the continent, separated before there was rock.

Having passed all the necessary stages of research, the scientific group has formulated the following hypothesis: the domestication of dogs was realized twice at different ends of the Eurasian continent. The ancient people were able to tame the two potentially extinct species of wolves with a different set of genes, perhaps even before the advent of settled agriculture. Species, which appeared in the East, migrated along with people 14-6,4 thousand. Years to Europe, where the partially replaced breed domesticated in the Paleolithic period.

Still, scientists recognize that, given the complexity of history development of the species of dogs and the uncertainty rates of genetic mutations, as well as a small amount of archaeological data, the proposed version is still hypothetical. Further DNA sequencing of ancient breeds of dogs and wolves in conjunction with a detailed study of the remains will provide the necessary data to put an end to the stories about how all the same person made friends with the dog.