A genome-wide perspective on the evolutionary history of enigmatic wolf-like canids
- Bridgett M. vonHoldt1,
- John P. Pollinger1,
- Dent A. Earl2,
- James C. Knowles1,
- Adam R. Boyko3,
- Heidi Parker4,
- Eli Geffen5,
- Malgorzata Pilot6,
- Wlodzimierz Jedrzejewski7,
- Bogumila Jedrzejewska7,
- Vadim Sidorovich7,
- Claudia Greco8,
- Ettore Randi8,
- Marco Musiani9,
- Roland Kays10,
- Carlos D. Bustamante3,
- Elaine A. Ostrander4,
- John Novembre1 and
- Robert K. Wayne1,11
- 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA;
- 2Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA;
- 3Department of Genetics, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305, USA;
- 4Cancer Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA;
- 5Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel;
- 6Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-679 Warszawa, Poland;
- 7Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, 17-230 Bialowieza, Poland;
- 8Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy;
- 9Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada;
- 10New York State Museum, CEC 3140, Albany, New York 12230, USA
Abstract
High-throughput genotyping technologies developed for model species can potentially increase the resolution of demographic history and ancestry in wild relatives. We use a SNP genotyping microarray developed for the domestic dog to assay variation in over 48K loci in wolf-like species worldwide. Despite the high mobility of these large carnivores, we find distinct hierarchical population units within gray wolves and coyotes that correspond with geographic and ecologic differences among populations. Further, we test controversial theories about the ancestry of the Great Lakes wolf and red wolf using an analysis of haplotype blocks across all 38 canid autosomes. We find that these enigmatic canids are highly admixed varieties derived from gray wolves and coyotes, respectively. This divergent genomic history suggests that they do not have a shared recent ancestry as proposed by previous researchers. Interspecific hybridization, as well as the process of evolutionary divergence, may be responsible for the observed phenotypic distinction of both forms. Such admixture complicates decisions regarding endangered species restoration and protection.
Footnotes
↵11 Corresponding author.
E-mailrwayne{at}ucla.edu.
[Supplemental material is available for this article.]
Article published online before print. Article, supplemental material, and publication date are athttp://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.116301.110.
- ReceivedOctober 8, 2010.
- AcceptedApril 4, 2011.
- Copyright © 2011 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
