TY - JOUR
T1 - Red fox genome assembly identifies genomic regions associated with tame and aggressive behaviours
AU - Kukekova, Anna V.
AU - Johnson, Jennifer L.
AU - Xiang, Xueyan
AU - Feng, Shaohong
AU - Liu, Shiping
AU - Rando, Halie M.
AU - Kharlamova, Anastasiya V.
AU - Herbeck, Yury
AU - Serdyukova, Natalya A.
AU - Xiong, Zijun
AU - Beklemischeva, Violetta
AU - Koepfli, Klaus Peter
AU - Gulevich, Rimma G.
AU - Vladimirova, Anastasiya V.
AU - Hekman, Jessica P.
AU - Perelman, Polina L.
AU - Graphodatsky, Aleksander S.
AU - O’Brien, Stephen J.
AU - Wang, Xu
AU - Clark, Andrew G.
AU - Acland, Gregory M.
AU - Trut, Lyudmila N.
AU - Zhang, Guojie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s).
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - Strains of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with markedly different behavioural phenotypes have been developed in the famous long-term selective breeding programme known as the Russian farm-fox experiment. Here we sequenced and assembled the red fox genome and re-sequenced a subset of foxes from the tame, aggressive and conventional farm-bred populations to identify genomic regions associated with the response to selection for behaviour. Analysis of the re-sequenced genomes identified 103 regions with either significantly decreased heterozygosity in one of the three populations or increased divergence between the populations. A strong positional candidate gene for tame behaviour was highlighted: SorCS1, which encodes the main trafficking protein for AMPA glutamate receptors and neurexins and suggests a role for synaptic plasticity in fox domestication. Other regions identified as likely to have been under selection in foxes include genes implicated in human neurological disorders, mouse behaviour and dog domestication. The fox represents a powerful model for the genetic analysis of affiliative and aggressive behaviours that can benefit genetic studies of behaviour in dogs and other mammals, including humans.
AB - Strains of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with markedly different behavioural phenotypes have been developed in the famous long-term selective breeding programme known as the Russian farm-fox experiment. Here we sequenced and assembled the red fox genome and re-sequenced a subset of foxes from the tame, aggressive and conventional farm-bred populations to identify genomic regions associated with the response to selection for behaviour. Analysis of the re-sequenced genomes identified 103 regions with either significantly decreased heterozygosity in one of the three populations or increased divergence between the populations. A strong positional candidate gene for tame behaviour was highlighted: SorCS1, which encodes the main trafficking protein for AMPA glutamate receptors and neurexins and suggests a role for synaptic plasticity in fox domestication. Other regions identified as likely to have been under selection in foxes include genes implicated in human neurological disorders, mouse behaviour and dog domestication. The fox represents a powerful model for the genetic analysis of affiliative and aggressive behaviours that can benefit genetic studies of behaviour in dogs and other mammals, including humans.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41559-018-0611-6
DO - 10.1038/s41559-018-0611-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 30082739
AN - SCOPUS:85051462033
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 2
SP - 1479
EP - 1491
JO - Nature Ecology and Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology and Evolution
IS - 9
ER -