iScience (Aug 2023)
The extinct Sicilian wolf shows a complex history of isolation and admixture with ancient dogs
- Marta Maria Ciucani,
- Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal,
- Germán Hernández-Alonso,
- Alberto Carmagnini,
- Sabhrina Gita Aninta,
- Xin Sun,
- Camilla Hjorth Scharff-Olsen,
- Liam Thomas Lanigan,
- Ilaria Fracasso,
- Cecilie G. Clausen,
- Jouni Aspi,
- Ilpo Kojola,
- Laima Baltrūnaitė,
- Linas Balčiauskas,
- Jane Moore,
- Mikael Åkesson,
- Urmas Saarma,
- Maris Hindrikson,
- Pavel Hulva,
- Barbora Černá Bolfíková,
- Carsten Nowak,
- Raquel Godinho,
- Steve Smith,
- Ladislav Paule,
- Sabina Nowak,
- Robert W. Mysłajek,
- Sabrina Lo Brutto,
- Paolo Ciucci,
- Luigi Boitani,
- Cristiano Vernesi,
- Hans K. Stenøien,
- Oliver Smith,
- Laurent Frantz,
- Lorenzo Rossi,
- Francesco Maria Angelici,
- Elisabetta Cilli,
- Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding,
- M. Thomas P. Gilbert,
- Shyam Gopalakrishnan
Affiliations
- Marta Maria Ciucani
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Corresponding author
- Jazmín Ramos-Madrigal
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Germán Hernández-Alonso
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Alberto Carmagnini
- Palaeogenomics Group, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Sabhrina Gita Aninta
- Palaeogenomics Group, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Xin Sun
- Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Camilla Hjorth Scharff-Olsen
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Liam Thomas Lanigan
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Ilaria Fracasso
- Forest Ecology Unit, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige (TN), Italy
- Cecilie G. Clausen
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Jouni Aspi
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, University of Oulu, Finland
- Ilpo Kojola
- Natural Resources Institute Finland, Rovaniemi, Finland
- Laima Baltrūnaitė
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Linas Balčiauskas
- Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
- Jane Moore
- Società Amatori Cirneco dell’Etna, Modica (RG), Italy
- Mikael Åkesson
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Riddarhyttan, Sweden
- Urmas Saarma
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Maris Hindrikson
- Department of Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
- Pavel Hulva
- Charles University, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Prague 2, Czech Republic
- Barbora Černá Bolfíková
- Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
- Carsten Nowak
- Center for Wildlife Genetics, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen, Germany
- Raquel Godinho
- CIBIO/InBIO, University of Porto, Vairão, Portugal; BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Vairão, Portugal
- Steve Smith
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Ladislav Paule
- Faculty of Forestry, Technical University, Zvolen, Slovakia
- Sabina Nowak
- Department of Ecology, Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Warszawa, Poland
- Robert W. Mysłajek
- Department of Ecology, Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Warszawa, Poland
- Sabrina Lo Brutto
- Department of Biological, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy; Museum of Zoology ''P. Doderlein'', SIMUA, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- Paolo Ciucci
- Università di Roma La Sapienza, Department Biology and Biotechnologies ''Charles Darwin'', Roma, Italy
- Luigi Boitani
- Università di Roma La Sapienza, Department Biology and Biotechnologies ''Charles Darwin'', Roma, Italy
- Cristiano Vernesi
- Forest Ecology Unit, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige (TN), Italy
- Hans K. Stenøien
- NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Oliver Smith
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Laurent Frantz
- Palaeogenomics Group, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany; School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Lorenzo Rossi
- Museo dell’Ecologia di Cesena, Cesena, Italy
- Francesco Maria Angelici
- FIZV, Via Marco Aurelio 2, Roma, Italy; National Center for Wildlife, Al Imam Faisal Ibn Turki Ibn Abdullah, Ulaishah, Saudi Arabia
- Elisabetta Cilli
- Laboratory of Ancient DNA, Department of Cultural Heritage (DBC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- M. Thomas P. Gilbert
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Shyam Gopalakrishnan
- Section for Evolutionary Genomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Corresponding author
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 26,
no. 8
p. 107307
Abstract
Summary: 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.
