Genetic Identification of Putative Hybrids between Grey Wolf and Golden Jackal

Abstract—

We describe the results of genetic analysis of 11 phenotypically deviant individuals of grey wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 sensu lato, collected in Voronezh State Nature Biosphere Reserve (Chernozem zone of European Russia) and Dagestan (North Caucasus, Russia), putatively identified morphologically as hybrids between grey wolf and golden jackal (Canis aureus Linnaeus, 1758). Using maternally inherited mtDNA (sequences of cytochrome b gene fragment) and paternal lineage markers Y chromosome fragments ZfY, no wolf–jackal hybrids of the first generation were identified; the possibility that the studied individuals belonged to hybrids between different F1 wolf and jackal individuals of subsequent generations is also excluded. However, it is possible that morphologically atypical individuals belong to complex hybrids, for example, various backcrosses. According to the results of analysis of a set of autosomal microsatellite loci, we putatively diagnosed a single F2 hybrid. In addition, we obtained data that can be considered as traces of hybridization in several specimens. Our results suggest the presence of a gene flow between wolf and jackal in southern regions of European Russia, albeit direct indications of introgression between these species were not found. At the same time, the results of both genetic and craniological studies could be interpreted as indication to hybridization between wolves and domestic dogs on the same territories.