Domestic dogs are formed by the 'landfill'.

(Everyone) - Anyone who has a dog knows that they have a habit of rummaging through the trash to find food. However, according to scientists, their actions may stem from a deeper cause than we think.

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A new study of dog genetics shows that there are many genes involved in starch metabolism in domestic dogs, comparable to wolves.

This reinforces the idea that many breeds of dogs develop from wolves that are able to search for trash and digest leftovers from previous farmers.

No one knows exactly when and how our ancestors had a close connection with the dog, but archaeological evidence suggests that it dates back thousands of years.

One suggestion was that hybrid dogs appeared from the time when the ancients used wolves to support hunting or to keep watch. But there are other opinions that raising animals starts with wolves when they eat human leftovers and then start living near humans forever.

'The second hypothesis says that when people start settling down, along with the development of agriculture, we create landfills around the property, and so suddenly landfills become food sources. and new accommodation for wolves, wolves best adapted to this new food and shelter have become the ancestors of domestic dogs, ' explains Dr. Erik Axelsson from Uppsala University.

'So, the results of our research correspond to the second hypothesis, which is the dog that was formed from landfills'.

Dr. Erik Axelsson and his colleagues analyzed the DNA of more than 50 modern dogs of many varieties like cocker spaniel and German shepherd. They then compared the genetic information of these dogs and the 12 wolves taken from around the world together.

The team scanned the DNA sequences of these two dogs to look for genes that had a big difference and discovered 36 such segments. Genetic analysis revealed that their genes are classified into two types of functions: genes involved in brain development and starch metabolism.

Later, it seems that dogs have many genes that encode enzymes involved in the process of starch decay, which is the inheritance from their ancestors eating leftovers that are wheat and other nuts.

'Wolves also have these genes but they don't work as well as they do in dogs,' Dr Axelsson said.

'When we looked at the wolf genome, we only saw one gene (to encode the amylase enzyme) on each chromosome. But when we look at the dog genome, we see from 2 to 15 genes, an average dog has more than one wolf to 7 genes. This means dogs digest and use more nutrients from starch than wolves'.

In relation to brain development genes, these genes reflect different behaviors between wolves and domestic dogs as we see them. Dogs are much more obedient, probably because people initially chose animals that they thought were easier to use for work.

Researching the origin of domestic dog breeds is really an area that is embarrassing for researchers.

Dr. Carles Vila is from the Donana Biological Biology Institute in Spain, saying the debate is expanding.'I think modern breeds come from many wolf populations. It is possible that dog domestication previously started with some animals coming in with people but still often accompanying other wolves, thus still being affected by wolves. But then there will definitely be an independent nurturing of these animals. '