The Sicilian wolf remained isolated in Sicily from the end of the Pleistocene until its extermination in the 1930s-1960s. Given its long-term isolation on the island and distinctive morphology, the genetic origin of the Sicilian wolf remains debated. We sequenced four nuclear genomes and five mitogenomes from the seven existing museum specimens to investigate the Sicilian wolf ancestry, relationships with extant and extinct wolves and dogs, and diversity. Our results show that the Sicilian wolf is most closely related to the Italian wolf but carries ancestry from a lineage related to European Eneolithic and Bronze Age dogs. The average nucleotide diversity of the Sicilian wolf was half of the Italian wolf, with 37-50% of its genome contained in runs of homozygosity. Overall, we show that, by the time it went extinct, the Sicilian wolf had high inbreeding and low-genetic diversity, consistent with a population in an insular environment.

• Keywords
• Canine genetics, Evolutionary biology,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) was the first species to give rise to a domestic population, and they remained widespread throughout the last Ice Age when many other large mammal species went extinct. Little is known, however, about the history and possible extinction of past wolf populations or when and where the wolf progenitors of the present-day dog lineage (Canis familiaris) lived1-8. Here we analysed 72 ancient wolf genomes spanning the last 100,000 years from Europe, Siberia and North America. We found that wolf populations were highly connected throughout the Late Pleistocene, with levels of differentiation an order of magnitude lower than they are today. This population connectivity allowed us to detect natural selection across the time series, including rapid fixation of mutations in the gene IFT88 40,000-30,000 years ago. We show that dogs are overall more closely related to ancient wolves from eastern Eurasia than to those from western Eurasia, suggesting a domestication process in the east. However, we also found that dogs in the Near East and Africa derive up to half of their ancestry from a distinct population related to modern southwest Eurasian wolves, reflecting either an independent domestication process or admixture from local wolves. None of the analysed ancient wolf genomes is a direct match for either of these dog ancestries, meaning that the exact progenitor populations remain to be located.

• MeSH
• History, Ancient MeSH
• Domestication MeSH
• Phylogeny * MeSH
• Genome * genetics   MeSH
• Genomics * MeSH
• Mutation MeSH
• Tumor Suppressor Proteins genetics   MeSH
• Dogs * genetics   MeSH
• Selection, Genetic MeSH
• DNA, Ancient analysis   MeSH
• Wolves * classification   genetics   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• History, Ancient MeSH
• Dogs * genetics   MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Historical Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Africa MeSH
• Europe MeSH
• North America MeSH
• Siberia MeSH
• Middle East MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Tumor Suppressor Proteins MeSH
• DNA, Ancient MeSH