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Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?

Despite continuous historical distribution of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) throughout Eurasia, the species displays considerable morphological differentiation that resulted in delimitation of a number of subspecies. However, these morphological discontinuities are not always consistent with patterns...

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Autores principales: Pilot, Małgorzata, Dąbrowski, Michał J., Hayrapetyan, Vahram, Yavruyan, Eduard G., Kopaliani, Natia, Tsingarska, Elena, Bujalska, Barbara, Kamiński, Stanisław, Bogdanowicz, Wiesław
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3979716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714198
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093828
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author Pilot, Małgorzata
Dąbrowski, Michał J.
Hayrapetyan, Vahram
Yavruyan, Eduard G.
Kopaliani, Natia
Tsingarska, Elena
Bujalska, Barbara
Kamiński, Stanisław
Bogdanowicz, Wiesław
author_facet Pilot, Małgorzata
Dąbrowski, Michał J.
Hayrapetyan, Vahram
Yavruyan, Eduard G.
Kopaliani, Natia
Tsingarska, Elena
Bujalska, Barbara
Kamiński, Stanisław
Bogdanowicz, Wiesław
author_sort Pilot, Małgorzata
collection PubMed
description Despite continuous historical distribution of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) throughout Eurasia, the species displays considerable morphological differentiation that resulted in delimitation of a number of subspecies. However, these morphological discontinuities are not always consistent with patterns of genetic differentiation. Here we assess genetic distinctiveness of grey wolves from the Caucasus (a region at the border between Europe and West Asia) that have been classified as a distinct subspecies C. l. cubanensis. We analysed their genetic variability based on mtDNA control region, microsatellite loci and genome-wide SNP genotypes (obtained for a subset of the samples), and found similar or higher levels of genetic diversity at all these types of loci as compared with other Eurasian populations. Although we found no evidence for a recent genetic bottleneck, genome-wide linkage disequilibrium patterns suggest a long-term demographic decline in the Caucasian population – a trend consistent with other Eurasian populations. Caucasian wolves share mtDNA haplotypes with both Eastern European and West Asian wolves, suggesting past or ongoing gene flow. Microsatellite data also suggest gene flow between the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. We found evidence for moderate admixture between the Caucasian wolves and domestic dogs, at a level comparable with other Eurasian populations. Taken together, our results show that Caucasian wolves are not genetically isolated from other Eurasian populations, share with them the same demographic trends, and are affected by similar conservation problems.
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spelling pubmed-39797162014-04-11 Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population? Pilot, Małgorzata Dąbrowski, Michał J. Hayrapetyan, Vahram Yavruyan, Eduard G. Kopaliani, Natia Tsingarska, Elena Bujalska, Barbara Kamiński, Stanisław Bogdanowicz, Wiesław PLoS One Research Article Despite continuous historical distribution of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) throughout Eurasia, the species displays considerable morphological differentiation that resulted in delimitation of a number of subspecies. However, these morphological discontinuities are not always consistent with patterns of genetic differentiation. Here we assess genetic distinctiveness of grey wolves from the Caucasus (a region at the border between Europe and West Asia) that have been classified as a distinct subspecies C. l. cubanensis. We analysed their genetic variability based on mtDNA control region, microsatellite loci and genome-wide SNP genotypes (obtained for a subset of the samples), and found similar or higher levels of genetic diversity at all these types of loci as compared with other Eurasian populations. Although we found no evidence for a recent genetic bottleneck, genome-wide linkage disequilibrium patterns suggest a long-term demographic decline in the Caucasian population – a trend consistent with other Eurasian populations. Caucasian wolves share mtDNA haplotypes with both Eastern European and West Asian wolves, suggesting past or ongoing gene flow. Microsatellite data also suggest gene flow between the Caucasus and Eastern Europe. We found evidence for moderate admixture between the Caucasian wolves and domestic dogs, at a level comparable with other Eurasian populations. Taken together, our results show that Caucasian wolves are not genetically isolated from other Eurasian populations, share with them the same demographic trends, and are affected by similar conservation problems. Public Library of Science 2014-04-08 /pmc/articles/PMC3979716/ /pubmed/24714198 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093828 Text en © 2014 Pilot et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Pilot, Małgorzata
Dąbrowski, Michał J.
Hayrapetyan, Vahram
Yavruyan, Eduard G.
Kopaliani, Natia
Tsingarska, Elena
Bujalska, Barbara
Kamiński, Stanisław
Bogdanowicz, Wiesław
Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title_full Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title_fullStr Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title_full_unstemmed Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title_short Genetic Variability of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in the Caucasus in Comparison with Europe and the Middle East: Distinct or Intermediary Population?
title_sort genetic variability of the grey wolf canis lupus in the caucasus in comparison with europe and the middle east: distinct or intermediary population?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3979716/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24714198
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093828
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