Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest living representative of the
ancestor of sheepdog from UK
Genomic analyses find traces of extinct ancestor to modern herding dogs
from UK in South America

Date:
April 28, 2022
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
Modern day Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest living relative to
now- extinct varieties of herding dogs of Victorian era Britain,
according to a new study.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Modern day Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest living relative
to now-extinct varieties of herding dogs of Victorian era Britain,
according to a study publishing April 28 in the open-access journal
PLOS Genetics by Natasha Barrios at the Universidad Austral de Chile,
Elaine Ostrander at the National Institutes of Health, US, and colleagues.


========================================================================== European settlers colonizing new lands often took their working dogs
with them, and this shared history is reflected in the genome of modern
dog breeds. The Patagonian sheepdog is a distinct variety from southern
Chile and Argentina, thought to have been introduced by European colonists
in the late 1800s. But it is not recognized as a formal breed and its relationship to modern herding dogs is poorly understood. Researchers
genotyped 159 Patagonian sheepdogs from Chile and the Chubut province
in Argentina and used published data for 175 recognised domestic dog
breeds and two wild dog species to create a phylogenetic tree.

They found that Patagonian Sheepdogs are most closely related to
Border collies and Australian kelpies and share a common ancestor with
modern herding breeds from the UK around 150 years ago. They identified distinct populations in the north and south of Patagonia, separated by
the Patagonian ice fields. Northern populations are more genetically
similar to Border collies, while southern populations are more closely
related to the Australian kelpie.

This population structure mirrors the pattern and timing of European colonization of the region, in which Scottish settlers first migrated from
the Falkland Islands to southern Chile in 1877, before later moving north
into the Ayse'n region and Argentina. The first sheepdogs were likely introduced to Patagonia before the formalization of dog breeds in the
late 1800s, suggesting that modern Patagonian sheepdogs are the closest
living representatives of the foundational sheepdog -- the ancestor of
modern herding breeds from the UK - - and probably look and behave quite similarly, the authors say.

Barrios adds, "Using a variety of genomic approaches, we ascertain the relationship between this dog population and modern herding breeds. We
propose that the Patagonian sheepdog is the closest living representative
of the common ancestor of modern UK herding breeds. These findings, in
turn, increase our understanding of human migratory events at the time."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Natasha Barrios, Ce'sar Gonza'lez-Lagos, Dayna L. Dreger, Heidi G.

Parker, Guillermo Nourdin-Galindo, Andrew N. Hogan, Marcelo
A. Go'mez, Elaine A. Ostrander. Patagonian sheepdog: Genomic
analyses trace the footprints of extinct UK herding dogs to
South America. PLOS Genetics, 2022; 18 (4): e1010160 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pgen.1010160 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220428142738.htm

--- up 8 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)