A research group from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies and Gifu University has revealed that the extinct Japanese wolf is the most genetically related wolf to dogs.
It is known that dogs originated from wolves, but since no wolves closely related to dogs have been reported, it has been assumed that dogs originated from an extinct group of wolves.
On the other hand, the Japanese wolf once lived in Japan, but is said to have become extinct during the Meiji period. During the Edo period, Siebold and his colleagues who stayed in Dejima, Nagasaki Prefecture, sent specimens of the Japanese wolf to the Netherlands, and the type specimen is still kept at the Natural History Museum (now the Naturalis Biodiversity Center) in Leiden, the Netherlands. In order to learn about the origins of Japanese wolves and dogs, the research group studied 100 individuals, including not only Japanese wolves and Japanese dogs, but also wolves from North America and the Arctic, wolves from the Eurasian continent, ancient wolves, ancient dogs, and modern dogs. The genome information was analyzed.
The results first revealed that Japanese wolves are a unique group that is genetically distinct from other wolves. It was also found that the Japanese wolf can be said to be the most closely related wolf to the dog group, and that the ancestor of dogs is thought to be a group that diverged from a common ancestor with the Japanese wolf.
The phylogenetic tree suggests that the ancestors of dogs diverged between the East Asian wolf and the easternmost Japanese wolf. In other words, it is highly likely that dogs originated in East Asia.
Finally, among the dog groups, they found that the genomes of dogs from the eastern Eurasian continent contain the genome of the Japanese wolf. The proportion of the Japanese wolf genome varies depending on the dog breed, and the Japanese dog genome contains 2 to 4%.
Based on the above, the Japanese wolf is thought to be involved in the birth of dogs, and has been found to be an important wolf for exploring the origin of dogs. It is hoped that this research will lead to further elucidation of the evolution and changes of the Japanese wolf, the origin and changes of dogs in the Japanese archipelago, and the formation of the Japanese dog.
Paper information:[Nature Communications] Japanese wolves are most closely related to dogs and share DNA with East Eurasian dogs
