Breaking news:I found two missing huskies please check if …
Breaking news:I found two missing huskies please check if …
When breeders of Siberian huskies began contacting Heather Huson ’97, frantic after learning their purebred dogs were showing ancestry from other breeds in ancestry tests, Huson decided to find out why.
Huson – a former sled dog racer who is now associate professor of animal science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) – was conducting research several years ago on the genomic variation in Siberians, based on whether they’re being bred for show, companion or sledding competition.
“There was a real concern from these Siberian breeders – who were mostly racing their dogs – that they were sending out their dogs’ DNA samples for analysis, more for the context of health traits, and they were getting breed ancestry information back that said their dog was not 100% Siberian husky,” Huson said. “Many (ancestry tests) were saying the Siberian huskies were a certain percentage Alaskan husky or Alaskan sled dog.”
That set Huson and colleagues on a new research path to examine thousands of years of Arctic sled dog ancestry, and when and how Siberian and Alaskan sled dogs’ DNA mixed.
Their massive genomic survey of the Siberian husky has revealed that sled dogs descended from two distinct lineages of Arctic canids and originated in the northeastern Siberian Arctic generations earlier than previously thought. The study also showed that approximately half of all Siberian huskies bred for racing have introgression with European breeds.
Huson is co-corresponding author of “Comparative Population Genomics of Arctic Sled Dogs Reveals a Deep and Complex History,” which published Sept. 14 in Genome Biology and Evolution.
The other corresponding author is Tracy Smith, senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Krishnamoorthy (Kris) Srikanth, a postdoctoral researcher in CALS and a member of Huson’s lab, is the other co-author.
Huson said her team’s findings regarding genomic history are an important tool in the effort to sustain ancient lineages, such as the Siberian husky, and their unique evolutionary identity.
“We started this study to try to answer this question about breed admixture,” Huson said. “We wondered, is it really a common Arctic sled dog ancestry that is just showing up as Alaskan husky in Siberians? Or is it Siberian (DNA) that went into Alaskans, or Alaskan going into Siberian? How do we know which way it went?”
