DNA Evidence Shows Ancient Humans and Dogs Migrated Together

[Judi Lynn]

The study is the first to show a genomic relationship between dogs and humans on the move.

Lisa Winter
Oct 31, 2020

The landscape of what early relationships between canines and humans looked like is now becoming clearer, as a study published in Science on October 30 uses DNA evidence to explain migrational partnerships between dogs and humans going back to the end of the last ice age, around 11,000 years ago.

To understand how ancient hunter-gatherer societies might have associated with early dogs, a research team analyzed the genomes from the remains of ancient dogs representing 27 species. The time when the dogs lived spanned from the last ice age to about 800 years ago. These sequences were then compared to the genomes from ancient humans from the same time period and regions.

Trying to marry this history of dog evolution with that of humans is a tall order. “It’s like you have an ancient text in two different languages, and you’re looking to see how both languages have changed over time,” Pontus Skoglund, a paleogenomicist at the Francis Crick Institute and a coauthor of the study, tells Science.

By examining shifts in each species’ genomes depending on time and location as they adapted to new surroundings, the researchers were able to find patterns of how they changed together over time, painting a picture of shared global migration. While there is archaeological evidence of domestication, this study is the first to use genomics to show those relationships through time and illustrate migrating in tandem.

More:
https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/dna-evidence-shows-ancient-humans-and-dogs-migrated-together-68110