Genomic and archaeological evidence suggest a dual origin of domestic dogs

TLDR

The domestication of wolves into dogs has remained controversial. The authors sequenced a Bronze Age Irish dog genome and ancient dog mitochondrial DNA. Ancient dogs reveal a deep split between East Asian and Western Eurasian lineages, indicating two separate domestication events. Frantz et al., Science, issue p.

Abstract

A dogged investigation of domestication The history of how wolves became our pampered pooches of today has remained controversial. Frantz et al. describe high-coverage sequencing of the genome of an Irish dog from the Bronze Age as well as ancient dog mitochondrial DNA sequences. Comparing ancient dogs to a modern worldwide panel of dogs shows an old, deep split between East Asian and Western Eurasian dogs. Thus, dogs were domesticated from two separate wolf populations on either side of the Old World. Science , this issue p. 1228