title: On the origin of mongrels: evolutionary history of free-breeding dogs in Eurasia.
abstract: Although a large part of the global domestic dog population is free-ranging and free-breeding, knowledge of genetic diversity in these free-breeding dogs (FBDs) and their ancestry relations to pure-breed dogs is limited, and the indigenous status of FBDs in Asia is still uncertain. We analyse genome-wide SNP variability of FBDs across Eurasia, and show that they display weak genetic structure and are genetically distinct from pure-breed dogs rather than constituting an admixture of breeds. Our results suggest that modern European breeds originated locally from European FBDs. East Asian and Arctic breeds show closest affinity to East Asian FBDs, and they both represent the earliest branching lineages in the phylogeny of extant Eurasian dogs. Our biogeographic reconstruction of ancestral distributions indicates a gradual westward expansion of East Asian indigenous dogs to the Middle East and Europe through Central and West Asia, providing evidence for a major expansion that shaped the patterns of genetic differentiation in modern dogs. This expansion was probably secondary and could have led to the replacement of earlier resident populations in Western Eurasia. This could explain why earlier studies based on modern DNA suggest East Asia as the region of dog origin, while ancient DNA and archaeological data point to Western Eurasia.
authors.affiliation: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, Warszawa 00-679, Poland School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pilot
authors.affiliation: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, Warszawa 00-679, Poland.
authors.forename: Tadeusz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Malewski
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
authors.forename: Andre E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular and Forensic Genetics, Department of Forensic Medicine, Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Skłodowskiej-Curie 9, Bydgoszcz 85-094, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grzybowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Genetics, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 5, Olsztyn 10-711, Poland.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oleński
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Genetics, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 5, Olsztyn 10-711, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ruść
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Genetics, University of Warmia and Mazury, Oczapowskiego 5, Olsztyn 10-711, Poland.
authors.forename: Stanisław
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamiński
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ruiz Fadel
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Green Lane, Lincoln LN6 7DL, UK.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.affiliation: KSU Mammals Research Chair, Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdulaziz N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Alagaili
authors.affiliation: KSU Mammals Research Chair, Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Osama B
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Mohammed
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosystematics, University of Opole, Oleska 22, Opole 45-052, Poland.
authors.forename: Grzegorz
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kłys
authors.affiliation: Science Institute of Biological Problems Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk 677980, Russia.
authors.forename: Innokentiy M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Okhlopkov
authors.affiliation: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, Warszawa 00-679, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suchecka
authors.affiliation: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, Warszawa 00-679, Poland wieslawb@miiz.waw.pl.
authors.forename: Wiesław
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bogdanowicz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004285:Dogs / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D058974:Phylogeography; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
keywords: Canis lupus familiaris; biogeographic reconstruction; dog origin; expansion wave; free-breeding dogs