The genome of ancient dogs that lived on the Korean Peninsula has been identified, drawing significant attention.
The Gaya National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (Director Oh Chun-young), under the Korea Heritage Service's National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, announced Tuesday that it had decoded the whole genome of ancient dogs from the Korean Peninsula for the first time in Korea and published the findings in the international journal PLOS One.
The study was conducted by a joint research team comprising the Gaya National Research Institute, the Conservation Science Research Division of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, the Seokdang Museum of Dong-A University, and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI) in Japan. The team analyzed four ancient dogs excavated from the historic sites of Neukdo in Sacheon (3rd century B.C. to around the first century A.D.) and Bonghwang-dong in Gimhae (4th-6th century A.D.), successfully reconstructing whole-genome information using next-generation sequencing (NGS).
The analysis showed that ancient dogs from the Korean Peninsula shared genetic characteristics close to those of Australia's native "dingo" and New Guinea's native "singing dog," both known to retain many genetic traits of early Eastern Eurasian dogs. However, they did not belong to exactly the same population, confirming the possibility that a distinct lineage of ancient Korean Peninsula dogs has existed for a long time. This is a significant finding suggesting that the East Asian dog population, previously considered a single group, was actually divided into several lineages.
In addition, the DNA of ancient Korean Peninsula dogs contained genes derived not only from Eastern Eurasian dogs but also from Western Eurasian dogs in Europe and Africa. Notably, the proportion of Western Eurasian genes tended to increase in more recent specimens.
Korean native breeds such as the Jindo, Donggyeongi, and Sapsaree have a relatively high proportion of genes derived from Western Eurasian dogs, suggesting that the modern Korean dog is the result of long-term interbreeding among dogs from various regions.
Meanwhile, ancient Korean dogs were also found to have had some genetic exchange with wolf populations. In particular, they showed the closest genetic connection with Japanese wolves across the sea, and genetic exchanges with wolf populations in Korea and China were also confirmed. This indicates that even after domestication, dogs were not completely separated from wolves and continued to influence each other.
The Gaya National Research Institute said, "Based on these findings, we plan to secure additional genome data of Neolithic dogs and, together with the research team, more precisely elucidate the evolutionary process of dogs that inhabited the Korean Peninsula."
