It has long been thought in the world of science that dogs evolved from the gray wolves that we see in existence today, however, new contradictory evidence is changing the minds of many scientists from around the world. A study in a recent issue of PLOS genetics, suggests that instead of dogs having evolved from the wolves we know today, they instead evolved from a wolf lineage that went extinct long ago. A team of national researchers examined the genomic sequences of three gray wolves. They took one from China, Croatia, and Israel since those are the three locations where dogs are believed to have originated from. The scientists also examined the genomic sequences of a Basenji dog from Africa and a Dingo from Australia because historically speaking they have been isolated from gray wolf populations. Analysis of the genomes of these dogs in comparison to the wolf species showed that the dogs had far more in common with each other than they had with the gray wolf, this suggests that those types of dogs did not evolve specifically from the gray wolf, and thus not ALL dogs and all types evolved from said gray wolf.
This connects well with both our unit of evolution, and our unit of molecular genetics. We also have a good amount to learn from the procedure followed by the team of researchers responsible for the study. The scientists drew conclusions based off of the lack of similarity in genetic code. It is well known that the more similar a species genetic code is to the genetic code of a different species the more closely related the species are to one another. For example, analysis of the human genome and the genome of gorillas has found that the species are rather closely related.If the genomes of totally unrelated dogs are more similar than the genomes of the animals that dogs supposedly evolved from. Genetic engineering as well as evolution are important concepts in understanding where we came from and how we came to be as we are today.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0117/Did-dogs-really-evolve-from-wolves-New-evidence-suggests-otherwise
Author: Sudeshna Chowdhury
Date of Publishing: January 7 2014
Name: Jordan Blocher
If most dogs have actually evolved from an older species of wolves that went extinct a long time ago, is it possible that the first species of dogs evolved much earlier than we think?
ReplyDeleteHow old is the ancestor that they believe dogs come from that are extinct? Does this change the date of when we thought dogs evolved?
ReplyDelete