Can hybridization be detected between African wolves and sympatric canids?

• Main Author: Bahlk, Sunniva Helene
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Hybridization; Introgression; wolf; like; Canids; RADSeq; ANGSD; Bioinformatics; Canis; lupaster; simensis; familiaris; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10852/49706; http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-53477

Hybridization is a common phenomenon within the genus Canis. The recently discovered African wolf (Canis lupaster), is sympatric with several closely related species; the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), the side-striped jackal (Canis adustus), and semi-domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). The aim of my thesis is to apply genome-wide data to investigate whether signs of hybridization can be detected between the African wolf and its sympatric canids. I used RAD-sequence data for 35 samples from Africa and 10 samples of grey wolf (Canis lupus) from North America. After demultiplexing and filtering the data from each sample, I kept 28 individuals for further analysis: ten African wolves, seven dogs, four Ethiopian wolves and seven grey wolves. I used the ANGSD (Analyzing Next Generation Sequencing Data) software for variant calling. This program is particularly suited to low or medium depth data as it takes genotype uncertainty into account. Various approaches were applied to study admixture and phylogenetic relationships among the species, and I was able to, for the first time, confirm the occurrence of hybridization between African wolf and dog, and between African wolf and Ethiopian wolf.