The team, led by Adam Boyko at Cornell University, analysed more than 185,800 genetic markers in a few than 4,600 purebred dogs of 165 breeds, along with more than 540 village dogs from 38 countries.
We know that dogs descended from wolves, but to understand how one of nature’s fiercest predators became our closest animal companions, it’s important to know when and where dogs became domesticated.
“Dogs were first domesticated in Central Asia, in an area that is now near present-day Nepal and Mongolia”, the authors said.
A few archaeologists have long believed Central Asia was a likely origin for domestication of dogs, but genetic studies have been lacking.
The latest analysis contradicts with many previous studies, which suggested that dogs evolved from wolves at least 15,000 years ago and came from Western Europe and Serbia.
Previously, a wide number of “home lands” have been suggested for the dog, ranging from Siberia to South China, and beyond.
Results were reported in a paper released Monday by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. However, when and where were dogs first domesticated by humans is still a matter of debate. It came not from house pets, but rather from dogs that wander freely in villages or fields. Boyko revealed that village dogs are genetically “very different” from pure-bred dogs.
So-called “village dogs”, according to the New York Times, are the most plentiful dogs around the world.
Nevertheless, the team acknowledged that their findings may not provide a final answer to how domesticated dogs emerged.
“Genetic analysis of village dogs can supplement ancient DNA analysis in efforts aimed at uncovering the precise time and place of dog domestication and evolution”, the scientists concluded. He said he suspected that the origins of modern dogs were “extremely messy” and that no amount of sampling of living populations would be definitive. The team analyzed DNA from all the chromosomes in the cell nucleus, from the Y chromosome specifically, found only in males, and from mitochondria, cellular energy machines outside the nucleus that are inherited from the mother.
“The fact that we looked at so many village dogs from so many different regions, we were able to narrow in on the patterns of diversity in these indigenous dogs”, Dr Boyko told BBC News. As Boyko quipped, “The great thing about working with dogs is that if you show up with food you don’t usually have trouble recruiting subjects”.
Researchers explained that these animals without an owner, and not pedigree dogs, are the true keepers of the genetic diversity of their species. “They were used to eating fish entrails”.
