Dingoes are not ancestors of modern dog breeds, reveals ancient dingo's DNA

While Dingoes appear to be very similar to modern-day dogs and seem liketheyhave similar DNA, that is not the case.

A new study conducted on the DNA of fossilised dingo has now revealed that they may not be the ancestors of modern dog breeds.

The dingoes have been in Australia for more than 3,000 years. In the study carried out, the DNA from fossilised dingo,which dates back to 2,746 years, wascompared with the DNA from modern dingoes.

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It was found that K'gari dingoes do not have any domestic dog ancestry and that they are pure dingos.

Understanding the genetic landscape of dingoes

The researchers published the paper in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Paleogeneticist and co-lead author Dr Sally Wasef, who belongs to QUT's School of Biomedical Sciences, said that the DNA analysis gave a rare idea into the pre-colonial genetic landscape of dingoes which does not contain any mix of modern dog breeds.

"Consequently, they are behaviorally, genetically, and anatomically distinct from domestic dogs," said Dr Wasef.

"Modern-day dingoes' ancestors arrived in Australia more than 3,000 years ago, most likely transported by seafaring people. The samples we analysed represent the oldest ancient DNA recovered in Australia and indicate broad possibilities of future DNA andconservation workthat could be carried out on dingoes and other animals," he added.

"Dingo populations are classified into east and west groups, which were previously thought to have formed during post-colonial human activity. Our findings show, however, that dingoes'populationstructure was already in place thousands of years ago, and clarify the genetic heritage of dingoes, while highlighting the importance of using ancient DNA forwildlife conservation," the author stated.

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"For example, all K'gari dingoes we analyzed do not have any domestic dog ancestry, proving they preserve their full ancestral heritage. Although we studied only a small number of K'gari dingoes, our findings highlight the importance and usefulness of our pre-colonial ancient genomic data in conserving our unique native animals. Due to poor human behaviour that causes some dingoes to become habituated to seeking food from tourists, several problem dingoes have been culled, which is concerning given their small population size," he added.

Meanwhile, the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA and Environment Institute co-lead author Dr Yassine Souilmi said that the ancient dingo DNA's unique dataset gave details regarding the migration patterns and ancestry of the modern-day dingo.

"Dingoes had distinct regional populations, split roughly along the Great Dividing Range, long before the European invasion of Australia, and certainly predating the dingo-proof fence," said Dr Souilmi.

(With inputs from agencies)