Evolution of the Gray Wolf

Science has shown that all dog breeds derive from the gray wolf. The dog genome is completely sequenced allowing comparisons between dogs and gray wolves or between dog breeds. The genetic underpinnings of artificial selection at a genome-wide level reflect Darwin's ideas that populations contain significant diversity, and that artificial selection can act on that diversity over time to promote the reproduction of certain variants over others to shift average characteristics of a population. The evidence suggests that natural selection acts in essentially the same way as artificial selection favoring the reproduction of certain variants over others are Darwin's parallels between artificial and natural selection.