Two decades of non-invasive genetic monitoring of the grey wolves recolonizing the Alps support very limited dog introgression.

ABSTRACT: Potential hybridization between wolves and dogs has fueled the sensitive conservation and political debate underlying the recovery of the grey wolf throughout Europe. Here we provide the first genetic analysis of wolf-dog admixture in an area entirely recolonized, the northwestern Alps. As part of a long-term monitoring program, we performed genetic screening of thousands of non-invasive samples collected in Switzerland and adjacent territories since the return of the wolf in the mid-1990s. We identified a total of 115 individuals, only 2 of them showing significant signs of admixture stemming from past interbreeding with dogs, followed by backcrossing. This low rate of introgression (<2% accounting for all wolves ever detected over 1998-2017) parallels those from other European population

SUBMITTER: Dufresnes C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6335406 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature