IRISH WOLFHOUND SOCIETY OF IRELAND

Carles Vilà, Peter Savolainen, Jesús E. Maldonado, Isabel R. Amorim, John E. Rice, Rodney L. Honeycutt, Keith A. Crandall, Joakim Lundeberg, Robert K. Wayne ^*

Mitochondrial DNA control region sequences were analyzed from 162 wolves at 27 localities worldwide and from 140 domestic dogs representing 67 breeds. Sequences from both dogs and wolves showed considerable diversity and supported the hypothesis that wolves were the ancestors of dogs. Most dog sequences belonged to a divergent monophyletic clade sharing no sequences with wolves. The sequence divergence within this clade suggested that dogs originated more than 100,000 years before the present. Associations of dog haplotypes with other wolf lineages indicated episodes of admixture between wolves and dogs. Repeated genetic exchange between dog and wolf populations may have been an important source of variation for artificial selection.

C. Vilà, J. E. Maldonado, I. R. Amorim, R. K. Wayne, Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA.
P. Savolainen and J. Lundeberg, Department of Biochemistry, Royal Institute of Technology, S 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
J. E. Rice and R. L. Honeycutt, Faculty of Genetics and Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
K. A. Crandall, Department of Zoology and M. L. Bean Museum, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA.