Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb
Abstract
Detecting the hybridization between species is important for evolutionary studies of speciation processes, conservation biology and management, but we still lack a general empirical perspective of hybridization problems in canids. Hybridization may occur between many species of the canid family, sometimes threatening the survival of endangered species or populations. Mitochondrial DNA control region haplotypes can be used to discriminate between Croatian wolves, dogs and jackals, and the goal of our research was to identify species specific Y chromosome haplotypes that could be used in detection of paternal origin in possible hybrids. We analyzed three non-overlapping Y chromosome fragments of the grey wolf, golden jackal and dog in the total length of 1,898 base pairs. Two haplotypes were identifi ed, one shared among grey wolf and dog, and one specific golden jackal haplotype. We did not find polymorphic sites that could be used to distinguish the paternal line in wolf - dog hybrids, but six polymorphic sites were identified that can be used to discriminate golden jackal from grey wolf and domestic dog.Otkrivanje hibridizacije među vrstama važno je za evolucijska istraživanja procesa nastajanja vrsta, konzervacijsku biologiju i upravljanje populacijama, no još uvijek nemamo empirijske podatke o problemu hibridizacije kod porodice pasa. Hibridizacija se javlja među mnogim vrstama iz porodice pasa, što ponekad predstavlja opasnost opstanku ugroženih vrsta ili populacija. Na temelju haplotipova kontrolne regije mitohondrijske DNK mogu se razlikovati vukovi, psi i čagljevi iz Hrvatske, te je cilj našeg istraživanja bio utvrditi vrsno specifične haplotipove Y kromosoma koji se mogu koristiti u otkrivanju očinske linije kod mogućih hibrida. Istražili smo tri nepreklapajuća slijeda Y kromosoma vuka, psa i čaglja u dužini od 1898 parova baza. Utvrdili smo prisutnost dvaju haplotipova, jedan zajednički vuku i psu, te jedan haplotip specifičan za čaglja. Nismo pronašli polimorfna mjesta koja se mogu koristiti za istraživanje očinske linije kod hibrida vuka i psa, no pronašli smo šest polimorfnih mjesta pomoću kojih se mogu razlikovati čagljevi od vuka i psa
