Abstract:The Bering Land Bridge (BLB) last connected Eurasia and North America during the Late Pleistocene. Although the BLB would have enabled transfers of terrestrial biota in both directions, it also acted as an ecological filter whose permeability varied considerably over time. Here we explore the possible impacts of this ecological corridor on genetic diversity within, and connectivity among, populations of a once wide‐ranging group, the caballine horses (Equus spp.). Using a panel of 187 mitochondrial and eight n… Show more
“…This mirrors European wolf history, but, while some deep local European ancestry persists, no deep North American ancestry appears to persist to the present. The Bering land bridge probably allowed for an influx of Siberian wolves into Alaska intermittently between 70 and 11 ka 28 , 29 , but we found no evidence of gene flow in the other direction. All present-day North American wolves can be modelled as having 10–20% coyote ancestry and the remaining ancestry from Siberian wolves younger than ~23 ka, with no contribution from earlier North American wolves (Fig.…”
Section: Siberia As a Source Of Global Gene Flowcontrasting
The grey wolf (Canis lupus) was the first species to give rise to a domestic population, and they remained widespread throughout the last Ice Age when many other large mammal species went extinct. Little is known, however, about the history and possible extinction of past wolf populations or when and where the wolf progenitors of the present-day dog lineage (Canis familiaris) lived1–8. Here we analysed 72 ancient wolf genomes spanning the last 100,000 years from Europe, Siberia and North America. We found that wolf populations were highly connected throughout the Late Pleistocene, with levels of differentiation an order of magnitude lower than they are today. This population connectivity allowed us to detect natural selection across the time series, including rapid fixation of mutations in the gene IFT88 40,000–30,000 years ago. We show that dogs are overall more closely related to ancient wolves from eastern Eurasia than to those from western Eurasia, suggesting a domestication process in the east. However, we also found that dogs in the Near East and Africa derive up to half of their ancestry from a distinct population related to modern southwest Eurasian wolves, reflecting either an independent domestication process or admixture from local wolves. None of the analysed ancient wolf genomes is a direct match for either of these dog ancestries, meaning that the exact progenitor populations remain to be located.
“…This mirrors European wolf history, but, while some deep local European ancestry persists, no deep North American ancestry appears to persist to the present. The Bering land bridge probably allowed for an influx of Siberian wolves into Alaska intermittently between 70 and 11 ka 28 , 29 , but we found no evidence of gene flow in the other direction. All present-day North American wolves can be modelled as having 10–20% coyote ancestry and the remaining ancestry from Siberian wolves younger than ~23 ka, with no contribution from earlier North American wolves (Fig.…”
Section: Siberia As a Source Of Global Gene Flowcontrasting
The grey wolf (Canis lupus) was the first species to give rise to a domestic population, and they remained widespread throughout the last Ice Age when many other large mammal species went extinct. Little is known, however, about the history and possible extinction of past wolf populations or when and where the wolf progenitors of the present-day dog lineage (Canis familiaris) lived1–8. Here we analysed 72 ancient wolf genomes spanning the last 100,000 years from Europe, Siberia and North America. We found that wolf populations were highly connected throughout the Late Pleistocene, with levels of differentiation an order of magnitude lower than they are today. This population connectivity allowed us to detect natural selection across the time series, including rapid fixation of mutations in the gene IFT88 40,000–30,000 years ago. We show that dogs are overall more closely related to ancient wolves from eastern Eurasia than to those from western Eurasia, suggesting a domestication process in the east. However, we also found that dogs in the Near East and Africa derive up to half of their ancestry from a distinct population related to modern southwest Eurasian wolves, reflecting either an independent domestication process or admixture from local wolves. None of the analysed ancient wolf genomes is a direct match for either of these dog ancestries, meaning that the exact progenitor populations remain to be located.
“…Several studies in this special issue draw inference from WGS data to gain new insights into demographic and evolutionary histories. For example, effective population size changes are inferred through time using variation in coalescent rates in individual genomes, and cross‐coalescence between genomes from canids, caribou, horses, killer whales and sea turtles (see Sarabia et al (2021); Taylor et al, (2021); Vershinina et al, (2021); Foote et al, 2021; Torres Vilaça et al, 2021 respectively). As noted by Vershinina et al, 2021, (and illustrated by Foote et al, 2021, Sarabia et al, 2021, Taylor et al, 2021 and Torres Vilaça et al, 2021), even just a few nuclear genomes can provide estimates of gene flow versus isolation, even within and among species with complex evolutionary histories.…”
Section: Inference Of Demographic Historymentioning
“…The horse is one of the most well studied species genetically, with almost 300 genomes of ancient horses having been sequenced [282] dating back 700,000 years in time [283,284] (Figures 1 and 4). This has contributed significantly to studies on the evolutionary history of the wild horse (Equus ferus) (e.g., [283][284][285][286]) and to archaeological scenarios of domestication and human movements [282].…”
Starting four decades ago, studies have examined the ecology and evolutionary dynamics of populations and species using short mitochondrial DNA fragments and stable isotopes. Through technological and analytical advances, the methods and biomolecules at our disposal have increased significantly to now include lipids, whole genomes, proteomes, and even epigenomes. At an unprecedented resolution, the study of ancient biomolecules has made it possible for us to disentangle the complex processes that shaped the ancient faunal diversity across millennia, with the potential to aid in implicating probable causes of species extinction and how humans impacted the genetics and ecology of wild and domestic species. However, even now, few studies explore interdisciplinary biomolecular approaches to reveal ancient faunal diversity dynamics in relation to environmental and anthropogenic impact. This review will approach how biomolecules have been implemented in a broad variety of topics and species, from the extinct Pleistocene megafauna to ancient wild and domestic stocks, as well as how their future use has the potential to offer an enhanced understanding of drivers of past faunal diversity on Earth.
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