Doctoral Dissertation Research: Human Population Inferences Via Canine Genetics

University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL

Investigators

Abstract

Dogs were the first domesticated animal to be widely distributed through the Americas, and their long association with humans suggests that dogs and humans in the Americas may have migrated together. This project will analyze DNA from 100 skeletal dog remains from a wide variety of time periods and regions of the Americas. If the project demonstrates that dogs and humans in the Americas have similar genetic patterns, it is likely that dogs are a good proxy for human population and migration history in the Americas. Given the ethical concerns of excavating and performing destructive analysis on human remains in the Americas, using dogs as a substitute species would be a way to continue to address research questions about human population history while also being respectful of the wishes of the cultural or biological descendants of the human remains. Results from this project will be presented at the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics (SING) workshop, a week-long workshop that brings together Native Americans who are interested in learning about the methods and ethics involved in genetic research. A partnership with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey will produce a virtual museum exhibit that discusses the project as well as relates to the public how genetic and archaeological data can be interpreted to learn more about human history. Dog burials are widespread across the Americas, and ancient DNA analysis of dogs can be used to infer human population history and movements in cases where human remains are unavailable to study. Nearly all studies of ancient dogs have focused on the hypervariable region (HVR) of the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome), which has limitations as a reliable indicator of population history. Sequencing the complete mitogenome can clarify understanding of domesticated dogs in the Americas and their time of entry, and with the low cost of next-generation sequencing it is possible to reassess previous analyses of dogs in the Americas using mitogenome data in the place of HVR data. With access to dog remains from a broad geographic and temporal span, and an aim to sequence 100 dog mitogenomes to compare to published ancient dog (N=3) and wolf (N=40) mitogenomes, the investigators will assess whether dog and human demographic histories show similar patterns, and if dogs in the Americas derive from Eurasian or American wolves. Clarification of these points using mitogenome data contributes to a better understanding of human populations in the Americas and their demographic history, as well as the origins of dogs in the Americas.