Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDCell Genomics
On the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf
23 affiliations
- 1Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA; Form Bio, Dallas, TX, USA
- 2Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA
- 3Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- 4Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- 5Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- 6Form Bio, Dallas, TX, USA
- 7Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
- 8Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA; Form Bio, Dallas, TX, USA; Institute for Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
- 9Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
- 10Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 11Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA; Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA
- 12Idaho Museum of Natural History & Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA
- 13Chronicle Heritage, Phoenix, AZ, USA
- 14Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 15Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- 16Anatomy Department, Des Moines University, West Des Moines, IA, USA
- 17Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Centre for Palaeogenetics, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden
- 18Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- 19Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics, The Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; University Museum, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
- 20Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
- 21Fevre River Packet Co, Santa Fe, NM, USA
- 22Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Wyss Institute, Boston, MA, USA
- 23Colossal Biosciences, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA. Electronic address: [email protected]
Abstract
Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) are extinct predators of Pleistocene North America. Although phenotypically similar to living wolves (Canis lupus), dire wolves have yet to be placed confidently in the canid family tree. We generated 3.4× and 12.8× paleogenomes from two well-preserved dire wolves dating to >13,000 and >72,000 years ago and estimated consensus species trees for these and 10 canid species. Our results revealed that ∼2/3 of dire wolf ancestry is most likely derived from a lineage sister to the clade comprising the gray wolf, coyote, and dhole and the remaining ∼1/3 from a lineage near the base of Canini diversity. Our results underscore the power of paleogenomes to resolve long-standing taxonomic questions and contribute to growing evidence of the role of post-speciation gene flow as an evolutionary force.
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BibTeX
@article{gedman2026ancestry,
title = {{On the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf}},
author = {Gregory L. Gedman and Kathleen M. Morrill and Jonas Oppenheimer and Chaz Hyseni and Molly Cassatt‐Johnstone and Alexander G. Lucaci and Nicolas M. Alexandre and William Troy and J. Chris Chao and Olivier D. Fedrigo and Savannah J. Hoyt and Patrick G. S. Grady and Sam Sacco and William Seligmann and Ayusman Dash and Mithil Chokshi and Laura Knecht and James B. Papizan and Tyler Miyawaki and Sven Bocklandt and James Kelher and Sara Ord and Shyam Gopalakrishnan and Audrey T. Lin and Brandon R. Peecook and Angela R. Perri and Mikkel‐Holger S. Sinding and Greger Larson and Julie Meachen and Love Dalén and Bridgett M. vonHoldt and Marcus Thomas P. Gilbert and Christopher E. Mason and Rachel J. Waugh O'Neill and Elinor K. Karlsson and Brandi L. Cantarel and George R. Martin and George McDonald Church and Ben Lamm and Beth Shapiro},
journal = {Cell Genomics},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101306},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101306},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - On the ancestry and evolution of the extinct dire wolf
AU - Gregory L. Gedman
AU - Kathleen M. Morrill
AU - Jonas Oppenheimer
AU - Chaz Hyseni
AU - Molly Cassatt‐Johnstone
AU - Alexander G. Lucaci
AU - Nicolas M. Alexandre
AU - William Troy
AU - J. Chris Chao
AU - Olivier D. Fedrigo
AU - Savannah J. Hoyt
AU - Patrick G. S. Grady
AU - Sam Sacco
AU - William Seligmann
AU - Ayusman Dash
AU - Mithil Chokshi
AU - Laura Knecht
AU - James B. Papizan
AU - Tyler Miyawaki
AU - Sven Bocklandt
AU - James Kelher
AU - Sara Ord
AU - Shyam Gopalakrishnan
AU - Audrey T. Lin
AU - Brandon R. Peecook
AU - Angela R. Perri
AU - Mikkel‐Holger S. Sinding
AU - Greger Larson
AU - Julie Meachen
AU - Love Dalén
AU - Bridgett M. vonHoldt
AU - Marcus Thomas P. Gilbert
AU - Christopher E. Mason
AU - Rachel J. Waugh O'Neill
AU - Elinor K. Karlsson
AU - Brandi L. Cantarel
AU - George R. Martin
AU - George McDonald Church
AU - Ben Lamm
AU - Beth Shapiro
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/27
JO - Cell Genomics
DO - 10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101306
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2026.101306
AB - Dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) are extinct predators of Pleistocene North America. Although phenotypically similar to living wolves (Canis lupus), dire wolves have yet to be placed confidently in the canid family tree. We generated 3.4× and 12.8× paleogenomes from two well-preserved dire wolves dating to >13,000 and >72,000 years ago and estimated consensus species trees for these and 10 canid species. Our results revealed that ∼2/3 of dire wolf ancestry is most likely derived from a lineage sister to the clade comprising the gray wolf, coyote, and dhole and the remaining ∼1/3 from a lineage near the base of Canini diversity. Our results underscore the power of paleogenomes to resolve long-standing taxonomic questions and contribute to growing evidence of the role of post-speciation gene flow as an evolutionary force.
SN - 2666-979X
ER -