DNA polymorphism of dogs (Canis familiaris L.). I. Origin, distribution of dogs in the light of molecular biological data about their mitochondrial and nuclear genomes
Information is given on the size and organization of the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of dogs, including information on polymorphisms of some loci used to clarify the phylogenetic relationships of wolves and the first dogs, including hypotheses about the places of domestication of ancient now extinct wolves and the dates of these events. It is noted that the introduction of molecular biological methods in archaeology has allowed to obtain the principally new data on ancient wolves and dogs. Based on mtDNA polymorphism and nuclear DNA polymorphism, migration routes of already domesticated dogs together with humans have been tracked. The previously existing points of view about the origin of the first dogs in Western Europe, as well as in East Asia, have been supplemented in recent years by assumptions about the appearance of the first proto-dogs in Siberia.