[_yb2s]

I'd like to, but can't find a practical way to do so.

I doubt there is any consumer level service that would do this- the "23andme for dogs" type services likely aren't setup for this. It would need to be a professional level biotech project, where one would prepare the sample themselves and send it off for sequencing where you get just raw data back.

I am an academic scientist with a lab, and know how to do this, but feel it would be inappropriate to use my work facilities for such a project.

[tharkun__]

And in any case, you may not really get any conclusive data back anyhow.

CBC Marketplace sent a _human_ DNA sample to various dog DNA testing places and from some of them got an actual dog breed answer back (instead of the expected "error, not dog DNA").

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-dog-dna-test-1....

So if you send "wolf" to a dog DNA testing place, how accurate would that really be for "wolf" vs. "dog" when all they expect to find is "dog" (and "wolf" is very close to "dog" given overall ancestry)?

[_yb2s]

Knowing how these services work that is not surprising- most only use a microarray that can only identify the approximate relative abundance of specific small fragments of DNA, it does not read the DNA sequence directly. They then probably have a very primitive analysis that assumes you have dog dna, and returns the same breed as whatever reference sample it is closest to. They almost certainly would have no reference data on a highly endangered African wolf.

[tantalor]

Sure but do they not check whether a sample is contaminated? That would seem like a step you can't skip.

[tharkun__]

For human vs. dog I would definitely expect that all of them would be able to tell (given that _some_ of them definitely were able to tell).

For wolf vs. dog I'd not be so certain even for the reputable ones. But then again I'm not a geneticist, so I can't tell you how easy it is to tell their version of "is this C# or Java byte code" :grin:

[_yb2s]

They don’t get the DNA sequence with these cheap microarray based services. However a human or something just as directly related to a dog would give weird mostly nonsense outputs- even if they could not tell what species the sample is actually from, it would be clearly not a dog. They should detect and reject those samples, but I am not surprised some of the services didn’t bother to implement that, as it requires more work.

This is most likely what they are using: https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/550869/ta...

[azalemeth]

Can you buy the primers personally for a few selected regions of great variability, do the extraction and PCR, and pay for sending it off for sequencing personally? You don't really need whole genome coverage and I'm sure if you asked if you could use a few ml of lysis buffer nobody would care. The scariest part for me would be sticking a buccal swab in your wolfdog's mouth...

[_yb2s]

Yes, that could possibly work with some carefully selected Sanger sequencing- I'd have to start with finding region(s) that had something I expected to be able to meaningfully interpret, which itself wouldn't be trivial, especially if the dog ends up being some type of wolfdog hybrid or just generally a less domesticated 'archaic dog.' Thanks for the suggestion- I'll look into it.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

If it is an Ethiopian wolf, then it is one of the rarest animals on earth, and I suspect that many organizations would be more than willing to stump up for the testing.

I’d start by dropping into a local zoo, with photos.

[kaikai]

I’d be genuinely concerned that they would take my “dog” if it ended up being an endangered species.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Exactly. I'd suggest enjoying its company, and keeping it quiet.

But wild animals, and wild animal hybrids can be a bit unpredictable, once they reach adulthood.

There are other canids in Africa, like Cape Hunting Dogs, Jackals, and foxes, that can be pretty badass (and some are endangered).