File photo.
Dogs were domesticated in southern East Asia 33,000 years ago and migrated to the rest of the world 15,000 years after, Chinese scientists said in a newly-published article.
"Using whole genome sequences from a total of 58 canids (12 gray wolves, 27 primitive dogs from Asia and Africa, and a collection of 19 diverse breeds across the world), we find that dogs from southern East Asia have significantly higher genetic diversity compared to other populations," said Wang Guodong, the first author.
Wang and the research team from Kunming Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in southwest China's Yunnan Province spent two years collecting and comparing the genome samples. They were able to map the spread of domestic dogs across the earth for the first time.
"Around 15,000 years ago, a subset of ancestral dogs started migrating to the Middle East, Africa and Europe, arriving in Europe about 10,000 years ago," Wang said.
"One of the non-Asian lineages migrated back to the east, creating a series of mixed populations with the endemic Asian lineages in northern China before following with human to the Americas."
Gray wolves were believed to be the common ancestors for more than 400 breeds of dog. But when, where and how of gray wolves becoming domesticated remains a controversial question in the scientific community.
The research team's comprehensive genetic investigation identified southern Chinese indigenous dogs as the earliest population compared to wolves, from which all other dog populations are derived.
Based on genome sequences from a worldwide collection of dogs,this study provides strong genetic evidence that the domestic dog originated in southern region of East Asia, according to Wang.
In the article, the history of dog domestication is often depicted as a two-stage process. Primitive dogs were first domesticated from their wild ancestors, the gray wolves.
In the second stage, the primitive forms were further selected to form many dog breeds with specialized abilities and shapes.
"Considering the extremely close relationship between dogs and humans, the study on dogs can hopefully shed some light upon social activities and migration history of humans," Wang said.
Their study, "Out of southern East Asia: the natural history of domestic dogs across the world," has been published in international life science journal Cell Research.
The researchers are currently furthering their study on the subject, attempting to locate the birthplace of the domestic dog more accurately.
