The color of the dogs indicated the antiquity of their origin.
Scientists from the University of California at Davis have conducted a genetic study of modern dogs and compared them with ancient relatives. The results showed that the color of the dog's coat was formed even before these animals were domesticated by humans, reports Nature Ecology & Evolution.
It is known that coat color is associated with the ASIP gene. It regulates the amount of yellow pigment. Different gene variations provide five main types of color: dominant yellow, shaded yellow, agouti (two or more bands of different pigments on the hair), black saddle and black back.
Scientists have found that in both dogs and wolves, the agouti genes that create the ash coloration are similarly expressed. So they got them from a common ancient ancestor.
In the second stage, scientists analyzed the genes of canines that lived 4,000 – 35,000 years ago, and again found a similar color.
“This suggests that the ASIP gene modulators were active in the earliest stages of dog domestication, which dates back to somewhere between 14,000 and 30,000 years ago,” the authors of the study emphasized.
Researchers have also found a clear genetic link between white arctic wolves, gray wolves, and dogs. They came to the conclusion that these species in ancient times exchanged genetic information.
When scientists compiled the evolutionary tree of canines, taking into account the new data, it turned out that the common ancestor of these three lineages lived at least 2 million years ago. In other words, a certain DNA configuration, which is responsible for coat color, arose even before the appearance of modern wolves as a species.
Two million years ago, glaciation occurred in the northern regions of the Earth. The white color of the coat was beneficial to predators, helping them to camouflage. Subsequently, these genes were passed on to wolves and the populations of domestic dogs descended from them.
Earlier it was reported that the remains of the oldest hunting dog were found in Georgia. She lived about 1.8 million years ago.
