Ancient DNA solves 320-year-old mystery

[Judi Lynn]

Public release date: 5-Mar-2013
Ancient DNA solves 320-year-old mystery



University of Adelaide researchers have found the answer to one of natural history's most intriguing puzzles – the origins of the now extinct Falkland Islands wolf and how it came to be the only land-based mammal on the isolated islands – 460km from the nearest land, Argentina.

Previous theories have suggested the wolf somehow rafted on ice or vegetation, crossed via a now-submerged land bridge or was even semi-domesticated and transported by early South American humans.

The 320-year-old mystery was first recorded by early British explorers in 1690 and raised again by Charles Darwin following his encounter with the famously tame species on his Beagle voyage in 1834.

Researchers from the University's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) extracted tiny pieces of tissue from the skull of a specimen collected personally by Darwin. They also used samples from a previously unknown specimen, which was recently re-discovered as a stuffed exhibit in the attic of Otago Museum in New Zealand.

The findings were published in Nature Communications today and concluded that, unlike earlier theories, the Falkland Islands wolf (Dusicyon australis) only became isolated about 16,000 years ago around the peak of the last glacial period.

More:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uoa-ads030313.php

[Scootaloo]

1. Neat!

Wondered about that critter, if it were introduced by humans or what.

[DreamGypsy]

2. Many thanks to the Human Genome Project

Here is a chart from the Nature Communications abstract for the research described in the post:

Phylogenetic tree showing the topological placementof D. avus,
FIW and South American canids,
based on the analysis of 1,069bp of mitochondrial cyt b and COII genes.

The Human Genome Project was a huge step forward in understanding human biology, molecular medical, human evolution, disease detection and treatment, and many other areas.

However, an equally important side-effect of the HGP was the development of automatic, high speed, and low cost gene sequencing technologies. The current sequencing technologies enable cost effective application through the whole range of living organisms and their ancestors (when DNA genetic samples are available), allowing questions like the history of the Falkland Islands wolf to be discovered.

From the National Human Genome Research Institute:

For many years, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has tracked the costs associated with DNA sequencing performed at the sequencing centers funded by the Institute. This information has served as an important benchmark for assessing improvements in DNA sequencing technologies and for establishing the DNA sequencing capacity of the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program (GSP). Here, NHGRI provides an analysis of these data, which gives one view of the remarkable improvements in DNA sequencing technologies and data-production pipelines in recent years.

The cost-accounting data presented here are summarized relative to two metrics: (1) "Cost per Megabase of DNA Sequence" - the cost of determining one megabase (Mb; a million bases) of DNA sequence of a specified quality [see below]; (2) "Cost per Genome" - the cost of sequencing a human-sized genome. For each, a graph is provided showing the data since 2001; in addition, the actual numbers reflected by the graphs are provided in a summary table. NHGRI welcomes people to download these graphs and use them in their presentations and teaching materials. NHGRI plans to update these data on a regular basis.

Sequencing 1,069bp of the Falkland Islands wolves is practically free!

Investments in science are gifts that keep on giving.

[aquart]

3. YES!