Publication Type: Journal Article
Authors: Carneiro, Miguel; Rubin, Carl-Johan; Di Palma, Federica; Albert, Frank W; Alföldi, Jessica; Barrio, Alvaro Martinez; Pielberg, Gerli; Rafati, Nima; Sayyab, Shumaila; Turner-Maier, Jason; Younis, Shady; Afonso, Sandra; Aken, Bronwen; Alves, Joel M; Barrell, Daniel; Bolet, Gerard; Boucher, Samuel; Burbano, Hernán A; Campos, Rita; Chang, Jean L; Duranthon, Veronique; Fontanesi, Luca; Garreau, Hervé; Heiman, David; Johnson, Jeremy; Mage, Rose G; Peng, Ze; Queney, Guillaume; Rogel-Gaillard, Claire; Ruffier, Magali; Searle, Steve; Villafuerte, Rafael; Xiong, Anqi; Young, Sarah; Forsberg-Nilsson, Karin; Good, Jeffrey M; Lander, Eric S; Ferrand, Nuno; Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin; Andersson, Leif
Year of Publication: 2014
Journal: Science
Volume: 345
Issue: 6200
Pagination: 1074-9
Date Published: 2014 Aug 29
Publication Language: eng
ISSN: 1095-9203
Keywords: Animals, Animals, Domestic, Animals, Wild, Base Sequence, Behavior, Animal, Breeding, Evolution, Molecular, Gene Frequency, Genetic Loci, Genome, Molecular Sequence Data, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Rabbits, Selection, Genetic, Sequence Analysis, DNA
Abstract: The genetic changes underlying the initial steps of animal domestication are still poorly understood. We generated a high-quality reference genome for the rabbit and compared it to resequencing data from populations of wild and domestic rabbits. We identified more than 100 selective sweeps specific to domestic rabbits but only a relatively small number of fixed (or nearly fixed) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for derived alleles. SNPs with marked allele frequency differences between wild and domestic rabbits were enriched for conserved noncoding sites. Enrichment analyses suggest that genes affecting brain and neuronal development have often been targeted during domestication. We propose that because of a truly complex genetic background, tame behavior in rabbits and other domestic animals evolved by shifts in allele frequencies at many loci, rather than by critical changes at only a few domestication loci.
DOI: 10.1126/science.1253714
Alternate Journal: Science
