Siberian fossil revealed to be one of the oldest known domestic dogs

DNA analysis finds 33,000-year old dog ancestor was more related to modern dogs than wolves

2013-03-07

(Press-News.org) Analysis of DNA extracted from a fossil tooth recovered in southern Siberia confirms that the tooth belonged to one of the oldest known ancestors of the modern dog, and is described in research published March 6 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Anna Druzhkova from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Russian Federation, and colleagues from other institutions.

Human domestication of dogs predates the beginning of agriculture about 10,000 years ago, but when modern dogs emerged as a species distinct from wolves is still unclear. Although some previous studies have suggested that this separation of domestic dogs and wolves occurred over 100,000 years ago, the oldest known fossils of modern dogs are only about 36,000 years old.

The new research published today evaluates the relationship of a 33,000 year old Siberian fossil to modern dogs and wolves based on DNA sequence. The researchers found that this fossil, named the 'Altai dog' after the mountains where it was recovered, is more closely related to modern dogs and prehistoric canids found on the American continents than it is to wolves.

They add, ""These results suggest a more ancient history of the dog outside the Middle East or East Asia, previously thought to be the centers where dogs originated."

###Citation: Druzhkova AS, Thalmann O, Trifonov VA, Leonard JA, Vorobieva NV, et al. (2013) Ancient DNA Analysis Affirms the Canid from Altai as a Primitive Dog. PLoS ONE 8(3): e57754. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057754

Financial Disclosure: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Foundation for Basic Research grants to ASD, VAT, NVV, NO, ASG; Emil Aaltonen grant to OT. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057754

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study: Brain injury may be autoimmune phenomenon, like multiple sclerosis

2013-03-07

Most scientists are starting to agree that repeat, sub-concussive hits to the head are dangerous and linked to neurological disorders later in life. A new collaborative study, though, attempted to find out why – and discovered that damage to the blood-brain barrier and the resulting autoimmune response might be the culprit. Published in journal PLOS ONE by the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic, the research suggests a new way of thinking about concussions: That the brain degeneration observed among professional football players (including ...

Salt identified as autoimmune trigger

2013-03-07

For the past few decades, health officials have been reporting increases in the incidence of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Now researchers at Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute have identified a prime suspect in the mystery — dietary salt. In the March 6 issue of the journal Nature, Yale researchers showed that salt can induce and worsen pathogenic immune system responses in mice and that the response is regulated by genes already implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases. In accompanying papers in the ...

Measuring the universe more accurately than ever before

2013-03-07

Astronomers survey the scale of the Universe by first measuring the distances to close-by objects and then using them as standard candles [1] to pin down distances further and further out into the cosmos. But this chain is only as accurate as its weakest link. Up to now finding an accurate distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way, has proved elusive. As stars in this galaxy are used to fix the distance scale for more remote galaxies, it is crucially important. But careful observations of a rare class of double star have ...

Folate and vitamin B12 reduce disabling schizophrenia symptoms in some patients

2013-03-07

Adding the dietary supplements folate and vitamin B12 to treatment with antipsychotic medication improved a core symptom component of schizophrenia in a study of more than 100 patients. The study focused on negative symptoms of schizophrenia – which include apathy, social withdrawal, and a lack of emotional expressiveness. While the level of improvement across all participants was modest, results were more significant in individuals carrying specific variants in genes involved with folate metabolism. The report from a team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will ...

Feinstein Institute researcher discovers new protein regulator of taste

2013-03-07

MANHASSET, NY – In collaboration with other research institutions, a Feinstein Institute for Medical Research investigator discovered a new protein that controls the sense of taste. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature. In a search for new proteins involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease, Philippe Marambaud, PhD, an investigator in the Litwin-Zucker Research Center for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease at the Feinstein Institute, discovered the protein calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1) in 2008. CALHM1 represents a new family of pore-forming ...

Circuitry of cells involved in immunity, autoimmune diseases exposed

2013-03-07

Cambridge and Boston, MA. Wed. March 6, 2013 – New work from the Broad Institute's Klarman Cell Observatory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, MIT, and Yale University expands the understanding of how one type of immune cell – known as a T helper 17 or Th17 cell – develops, and how its growth influences the development of immune responses. By figuring out how these cells are "wired," the researchers make a surprising connection between autoimmunity and salt consumption, highlighting the interplay of genetics and environmental factors in disease susceptibility. ...

Monell scientists help identify a missing link in taste perception

2013-03-07

PHILADELPHIA (March 6, 2013) -- Working with a multidisciplinary consortium of 19 researchers from nine institutions, Monell scientists have provided critical information to identify CALHM1, a channel in the walls of taste receptor cells, as a necessary component in the process of sweet, bitter, and umami (savory) taste perception. When sweet, bitter and umami molecules reach the tongue, they activate taste receptors in specialized cells called Type II taste cells. "The question that the consortium wanted to answer is, 'how do these taste cells tell the brain that they ...

How the body's energy molecule transmits 3 types of taste to the brain

2013-03-07

PHILADELPHIA – Saying that the sense of taste is complicated is an understatement, that it is little understood, even more so. Exactly how cells transmit taste information to the brain for three out of the five primary taste types was pretty much a mystery, until now. A team of investigators from nine institutions discovered how ATP – the body's main fuel source– is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami, or savory, taste bud cells. The CALHM1 channel protein, which spans a taste bud cell's outer membrane to allow ions and molecules in and out, ...

Study identifies new risk factor for heart disease among kidney dialysis patients

2013-03-07

BOSTON– Kidney failure affects 25 million individuals in the U.S. and many more throughout the world. Loss of kidney function means the majority of these patients must undergo dialysis treatments to remove excess fluids and waste products. Although dialysis therapy coupled with medication has improved the life expectancy for people with kidney failure, for unknown reasons, patients' risk of sudden heart failure and death remains 10 to 20 times greater than average. Now, a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Massachusetts General ...

Bats not bothered by forest fires, study finds

2013-03-07

A survey of bat activity in burned and unburned areas after a major wildfire in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains found no evidence of detrimental effects on bats one year after the fire. The findings suggest that bats are resilient to high-severity fire, and some species may even benefit from the effects of fire on the landscape. The study, led by bat ecologist Winifred Frick of the University of California, Santa Cruz, will be published in the journal PLOS ONE on March 6. The findings are important because current understanding of how wildlife responds to fire is ...

Bioactive polyphenolic compounds and in vitro anti-degenerative property-based pharmacological propensities of some promising germplasms of Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.

Siberian fossil revealed to be one of the oldest known domestic dogs

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: