India harbours two ecologically and evolutionarily significant canids: the dhole and wolf. Both species are increasingly threatened by habitat fragmentation, declining prey availability, and anthropogenic pressures. Despite their conservation importance, the complete mitochondrial genome structure and organization of the Indian dhole and wolf have remained unreported. In this study, we characterized the structure and organization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of the Indian dhole and wolf for the first time in order to examine their genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships. The mitochondrial genome measured 16,754 bp in the Indian dhole and 16,727 bp in the Indian wolf. Both species showed conserved gene content and organization, including 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, and a control region. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses consistently recovered the dhole as a well-supported monophyletic clade in which the two Indian dhole samples clustered together and were clearly separated from the Chinese dhole. The Indian wolf formed a well-supported distinct clade within the Canis lupus complex. The distinct phylogenetic placement of the Indian dhole and wolf emphasizes their evolutionary significance and conservation relevance. The mitochondrial genome resources generated in this study provide a foundation for future population and comparative genomic analyses of these threatened canids.
Suresh et al. (Fri,) studied this question.