Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Axelsson, Erik
• Ratnakumar, Abhirami
• Arendt, Maja-Louise
• Maqbool, Khurram
• Webster, Matthew T.
• Perloski, Michele
• Liberg, Olof
• Arnemo, Jon M.
• Hedhammar, Åke
• Lindblad-Toh, Kerstin

Titel

The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet

Ist Teil von

• Nature (London), 2013-03, Vol.495 (7441), p.360-364

Ort / Verlag

London: Nature Publishing Group UK

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Whole-genome resequencing of dogs and wolves helps identify genomic regions that are likely to represent targets for selection during dog domestication. When dogs homed in on humans Whole-genome resequencing of dogs and wolves has been used to identify genomic regions likely to represent targets for selection during dog domestication. Of 36 genes identified, more than half are brain-related including some linked to behavioural changes thought central to dog domestication. Surprisingly, ten genes that show signals of selection are important in starch digestion and fat metabolism — and modern dogs fare better than carnivorous wolves on a diet rich in starch. This evidence of dietary change suggests that dogs may have found a new ecological niche, scavenging waste from human settlements established during the agricultural revolution. The domestication of dogs was an important episode in the development of human civilization. The precise timing and location of this event is debated 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and little is known about the genetic changes that accompanied the transformation of ancient wolves into domestic dogs. Here we conduct whole-genome resequencing of dogs and wolves to identify 3.8 million genetic variants used to identify 36 genomic regions that probably represent targets for selection during dog domestication. Nineteen of these regions contain genes important in brain function, eight of which belong to nervous system development pathways and potentially underlie behavioural changes central to dog domestication 6 . Ten genes with key roles in starch digestion and fat metabolism also show signals of selection. We identify candidate mutations in key genes and provide functional support for an increased starch digestion in dogs relative to wolves. Our results indicate that novel adaptations allowing the early ancestors of modern dogs to thrive on a diet rich in starch, relative to the carnivorous diet of wolves, constituted a crucial step in the early domestication of dogs.