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Published online before print
February 6, 2007, 10.1101/gr.6055807 Genome Res. 17:259-263, 2007 ©2007 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; ISSN 1088-9051/07 $5.00
Commentary Canid genomics: Mapping genes for behavior in the silver foxCancer Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
Domestication is the condition and/or process of genetically and environmentally induced developmental adaptation to man and captivity (Price 1984
Kukekova et al. (2007)
Because of the close phylogenetic relationship between the dog and the red fox species complex (Fig. 1A), genomic resources developed previously in the dog have proven useful in the construction of the fox meiotic linkage map. In the late 1990s, both Yang and Graphadatsky and their collaborators independently showed that syntenic relationships between the genomes of canid species were largely conserved, despite the marked karyotypic differences (Graphodatsky et al. 1995
Kukekova et al. (2007) 6.8 cM, a total map length of 1480 cM, and an average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) in the silver fox of 0.5 (Kukekova et al. 2007
The Farm-Fox Experiment, as it has become known, is, in essence, a fast-forwarded reconstruction of mans first exercise in domestication: the domestication of the dog from the gray wolf (Canis lupus). Dogs were the first domesticated species, and studies of canid phylogenetic relationships show that gray wolves are the sole progenitor to the domestic dog (Clutton-Brock 1995
Dmitry Belyaev and colleagues at the ICG in Novosibirsk, Siberia, set out to domesticate the silver fox, a species important in the fur industry that had never been fully domesticated. In their early work, Belyaev and Trut summarized basic behavioral, physiological, and morphological changes that are common to domesticated animals, including a reduction in fear behavior exhibited in response to humans, changes in pigmentation, body size, relative skeletal proportions, and a relaxation of the seasonality of reproductive cycles (Belyaev 1969
In 1959, Belyaev and colleagues started a breeding program consisting of 100 females and 30 male foxes (Trut 1999
Despite selecting only for behavior, numerous dog-like morphological and physiological novelties emerged in the foxes (Trut 1999
While selecting for tame behavior in one population, researchers at the ICG also developed a population of foxes that preserved the aggressive behavior seen in the wild-type animals (Trut 1999
Because studies of genes influencing complex behavior have traditionally been hampered by the difficulty in establishing robust phenotypic assays, Trut and coworkers have opted to measure the physical manifestations of behavior rather than the behavior itself (Trut 2001
Using the experimental cross described above and the new fox linkage map, identification of the genes responsible for tame behavior may now be attempted. The results will be limited, however, by the fact that the map only has 350 markers and will, at best, localize genes of interest to several million base pairs. But fox researchers have an enormous advantage in that extensive resources have been developed for navigating the closely related dog genome. There is a rudimentary canine meiotic linkage map containing a few hundred microsatellite markers (Mellersh et al. 1997
The final resource of enormous use to the silver fox cloning efforts will be the whole-genome assembly of the 7.6x canine genome sequence itself. The effort generated over 35 million sequence reads and covers 99% of the eukaryotic genome (http://www.genome.ucsc.edu) (Lindblad-Toh et al. 2005
It is interesting that when the 7.6x genome sequence and the 10,000 gene dog RH map were compared, there was excellent concordance between the two (Hitte et al. 2005
A complementary approach to genetic mapping for the identification of genes underlying fox behavioral phenotypes is to use cDNA microarray technology to assay differential gene expression. Using global human 30,000 cDNA clone microarrays, Lindberg et al. (2005)
The fox system is poised to help resolve questions surrounding early domestication as well as expand our understanding of the suite of genes underlying complex behavior. Most promising is that the foxes may help to identify the genes that were important in the early domestication of dogs, when our human ancestors first began to exert selective pressure on wolves. Furthermore, the Farm-Fox system demonstrates that selection for behavior can have far-reaching morphological and physiological effects and also illustrates the possibility that phenotypic diversity could be generated by selection for behavior alone. This could provide important clues to the rates of morphological radiation possible in the dog. Finally, the fox may identify new genes that control complex mammalian behaviors of interest for understanding both naturally occurring as well as anomalous behaviors. Having said that, one has to consider the possibility that population structure has played some role in generating some of the diversity observed in the fox. Farm-Fox researchers were mindful of the potential issues regarding inbreeding and, therefore, most of the tame foxes were propagated under a model of outbreeding (inbreeding coefficients between 0.02 and 0.07) (Trut 2001
Ten years ago the fox map could not have been generated with the rapidity and accuracy that it has been today. Genomics is therefore at somewhat of a crossroads as we move away from the study of conventional model organisms and begin to think again like biologists. Asking questions outside of the protected venue of the mouse and rat systems can now be easily done. At least partial genome sequence has or is being generated for a host of mammals with interesting phenotypes including, but not limited to the elephant, opossum, cow, cat, rabbit, hedgehog, armadillo, wallaby, bat, pangolin, tree shrew, platypus, horse, lemur, squirrel, and several others (http://www.genome.gov/10002154). We are no longer restricted to asking questions based on the phenotypes of a select group of model organisms. It will be tempting to take the genetic results of the Farm-Fox experiment and generalize it to the 50,000 yr worth of events that shaped the domestication of the dog. But care should be taken. While almost certainly the results of this highly controlled experiment will provide us with stepping stones and a vocabulary for understanding critical genes and pathways that have brought about domestication, the story is apt to be much more complex than can be derived from this one farm experiment. One senses that the fox genetics community itself is wary of over-interpreting their results, and it is our excitement at the bringing together of genomic tools and novel biological and genetic experiments that poses the greatest risk for over-interpretation. Clearly, in becoming genomicists and learning the tricks for easy resource development, we have reawakened ourselves to the world of biology. We need, as always, to temper enthusiasm with caution and apply rigorous standards to the interpretation of data. Having said that, it is entirely appropriate to feel enthusiasm and excitement as we finally begin to understand the genetic forces that have shaped the transition of wild animal to mans best friend.
We thank the many dog owners and field biologists who support our efforts to understand the genetics of natural variation. We also thank Heidi G. Parker and Bridgett M. vonHoldt for helpful comments and/or discussion of this manuscript. T.C.S. and E.A.O. are supported by the Intramural Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute.
1 Corresponding author.
E-mail eostrand{at}mail.nih.gov; fax (301) 480-0472. Article published online before print. Article and publication date are at http://www.genome.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gr.6055807
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