Complex history of dog (Canis familiaris) origins and translocations in the Pacific revealed by ancient mitogenomes.

Archaeological evidence suggests that dogs were introduced to the islands of Oceania via Island Southeast Asia around 3,300 years ago, and reached the eastern islands of Polynesia by the fourteenth century AD. This dispersal is intimately tied to human expansion, but the involvement of dogs in Pacific migrations is not well understood. Our analyses of seven new complete ancient mitogenomes and five partial mtDNA sequences from archaeological dog specimens from Mainland and Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific suggests at least three dog dispersal events into the region, in addition to the introduction of dingoes to Australia. We see an early introduction of dogs to Island Southeast Asia, which does not appear to extend into the islands of Oceania. A shared haplogroup identified between Iron Age Taiwanese dogs, terminal-Lapita and post-Lapita dogs suggests that at least one dog lineage was introduced to Near Oceania by or as the result of interactions with Austronesian language speakers associated with the Lapita Cultural Complex. We did not find any evidence that these dogs were successfully transported beyond New Guinea. Finally, we identify a widespread dog clade found across the Pacific, including the islands of Polynesia, which likely suggests a post-Lapita dog introduction from southern Island Southeast Asia.

Ancient mitogenomes of Phoenicians from Sardinia and Lebanon: A story of settlement, integration, and female mobility.

The Phoenicians emerged in the Northern Levant around 1800 BCE and by the 9th century BCE had spread their culture across the Mediterranean Basin, establishing trading posts, and settlements in various European Mediterranean and North African locations. Despite their widespread influence, what is known of the Phoenicians comes from what was written about them by the Greeks and Egyptians. In this study, we investigate the extent of Phoenician integration with the Sardinian communities they settled. We present 14 new ancient mitogenome sequences from pre-Phoenician (~1800 BCE) and Phoenician (~700-400 BCE) samples from Lebanon (n = 4) and Sardinia (n = 10) and compare these with 87 new complete mitogenomes from modern Lebanese and 21 recently published pre-Phoenician ancient mitogenomes from Sardinia to investigate the population dynamics of the Phoenician (Punic) site of Monte Sirai, in southern Sardinia. Our results indicate evidence of continuity of some lineages from pre-Phoenician populations suggesting integration of indigenous Sardinians in the Monte Sirai Phoenician community. We also find evidence of the arrival of new, unique mitochondrial lineages, indicating the movement of women from sites in the Near East or North Africa to Sardinia, but also possibly from non-Mediterranean populations and the likely movement of women from Europe to Phoenician sites in Lebanon. Combined, this evidence suggests female mobility and genetic diversity in Phoenician communities, reflecting the inclusive and multicultural nature of Phoenician society.

Characterization of oligosaccharides from the chondroitin sulfates. (1)H-NMR and (13)C-NMR studies of reduced disaccharides and tetrasaccharides.

Chondroitin sulfates were fragmented using the enzymes chondroitin sulfate ABC endolyase and chondroitin ACII lyase; both disaccharide and tetrasaccharide fragments were isolated after reduction to the corresponding 2-deoxy-2-N-acetylamino-D-galactitol (GalNAc-ol) form. These have the structures: Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S-ol, Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S-ol, Delta UA2S(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S-ol, Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S(beta 1--4)L-IdoA(alpha 1--3)GalNAc4S-ol, Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S(beta 1--4)GlcA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S-ol, Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S(beta 1--4)GlcA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S-ol, Delta UA(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S(beta 1--4)GlcA(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S-ol, Delta UA2S(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S(beta 1--4)GlcA(beta 1--3)GalNAc4S-ol and Delta UA2S(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S(beta 1--4)GlcA(beta 1--3)GalNAc6S-ol, where Delta UA represents a 4,5-unsaturated hexuronic acid (4-deoxy-alpha-Lthreo-hex-4-enepyranosyluronic acid) and 6S/4S/2S represent O-ester sulfate groups at C6/C4/C2 sites. Complete (1)H-NMR and (13)C-NMR data are derived for these species, which may help to alleviate some of the significant difficulties resulting from signal complexity that are currently hindering the characterization and assignment of major and minor structural components within chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate polymers.