Conservation implications of elucidating the Korean wolf taxonomic ambiguity through whole-genome sequencing

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Hernández-Alonso, G., Ramos-Madrigal, J., Sun, X., Scharff-Olsen, C. H., Sinding, M. -H. S., Martins, N. F., Ciucani, M. M., Mak, S. S. T., Lanigan, L. T., Clausen, C. G., Bhak, J., Jeon, S., Kim, C., Eo, K. Y., Cho, S. -H., Boldgiv, B., Gantulga, G., Unudbayasgalan, Z., Kosintsev, P. A., Stenøien, H. K., Gilbert, M. T. P., Gopalakrishnan, S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Ltd 2023
• Subjects: CANIS LUPUS; POPULATION GENOMICS; TAXONOMIC AMBIGUITY; WOLF CONSERVATION GENETICS; WOLF POPULATION STRUCTURE; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://elar.urfu.ru/handle/10995/130696; https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85166750285&doi=10.1002%2fece3.10404&partnerID=40&md5=72d301b648249cb9d1ace8b34d4fc332; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/ece3.10404; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10404

The taxonomic status of the now likely extirpated Korean Peninsula wolf has been extensively debated, with some arguing it represents an independent wolf lineage, Canis coreanus. To investigate the Korean wolf's genetic affiliations and taxonomic status, we sequenced and analysed the genomes of a Korean wolf dated to the beginning of the 20th century, and a captive wolf originally from the Pyongyang Central Zoo. Our results indicated that the Korean wolf bears similar genetic ancestry to other regional East Asian populations, therefore suggesting it is not a distinct taxonomic lineage. We identified regional patterns of wolf population structure and admixture in East Asia with potential conservation consequences in the Korean Peninsula and on a regional scale. We find that the Korean wolf has similar genomic diversity and inbreeding to other East Asian wolves. Finally, we show that, in contrast to the historical sample, the captive wolf is genetically more similar to wolves from the Tibetan Plateau; hence, Korean wolf conservation programmes might not benefit from the inclusion of this specimen. © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. European Research Council, ERC: 681396; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT; Miljødirektoratet: 18088069 This work was supported by ERC Consolidator Award 681396 Extinction Genomics, DNRF143 Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, and the Norwegian Environment Agency (project 18088069). G.H-A. is supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología from Mexico (CONACyT, 576743). Morten Skage, Mikeal Åkersson, Jouni Aspi, Kjetill S. Jakobsen, and Øyvind Øverli provided some of the wolf samples included in this study. We would like to acknowledge Zoo Zürich for providing the study with a sample from their Mongolian wolf. This work was supported by ERC Consolidator Award 681396 Extinction Genomics, DNRF143 Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, and the Norwegian Environment Agency (project 18088069). G.H‐A. is supported ...