Cited by 145Human-Animal Interaction StudiesGenetic and phenotypic traits in livestockAnimal Behavior and Reproduction

Red fox genome assembly identifies genomic regions associated with tame and aggressive behaviours

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Kukekova, Anna V., Johnson, Jennifer L., Xiang, Xueyan, Feng, Shaohong, Liu, Shiping, Rando, Halie M., Kharlamova, Anastasiya V., Herbeck, Yury +15 more·2018·Nature Ecology & Evolution

Abstract

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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  • The number of DEG identified in the bovine PFC (16,384) is similar to that identified in mice (15,423) and silver foxes (14,000), the latter also in the PFC.

    “The number of DEG identified in the bovine PFC (16,384) is similar to that identified in mice (15,423) [47] and silver foxes (14,000) [40], the latter also in the PFC.”
  • Structural variants in WBS genes, for example in GTF2I and its paralogs, underlie stereotypical hypersociability in domestic dogs and foxes.

    “Structural variants in WBS genes, for example in the case of GTF2I and its paralogs, have been shown to underlie stereotypical hypersociability in domestic dogs and foxes (8, 9).”
  • In studies of genetic differences between tame and aggressive foxes, changes to serotonergic signaling accompany those of the glutamatergic system, along with genetic changes often potentially relevant to both synapses.

    “In studies of genetic differences between tame and aggressive foxes, changes to serotonergic signaling accompany those of the glutamatergic system, along with genetic changes often potentially relevant to both synapses (Wang et al., 2018b;Kukekova et al., 2018).”

    From Glutamate receptors in domestication and modern human evolution (2020) · cites this paper as Kukekova et al., 2018

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [10]Morey D Dogs: domestication and the development of a social bond, xxiv, 356 p. (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2010).
  2. [60]Trut LN Morphology and Behavior: Are They Coupled at the Genome Level? in The Dog and its Genome (eds. Ostrander E, Giger U & Lindblad-Toh K) 81– 96 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 2006).
  3. [89]Sambrook J & Russell DW Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual, (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 2001).

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Authors
Kukekova, A. V., Johnson, J. L., Xiang, X., Feng, S., Liu, S., Rando, H. M., Kharlamova, A. V., Herbeck, Y., Serdyukova, N. A., Xiong, Z., Beklemischeva, V., Koepfli, K.-P., Gulevich, R. G., Vladimirova, A. V., Hekman, J. P., Perelman, P. L., Graphodatsky, A. S., O’Brien, S. J., Wang, X., Clark, A. G., Acland, G. M., Trut, L. N., & Zhang, G.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • China National GeneBank (CN)
  • Institute of Cytology and Genetics (RU)
  • Kunming Institute of Zoology (CN)
  • Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (RU)
  • St Petersburg University (RU)
  • Broad Institute (US)
  • Novosibirsk State University (RU)
  • Cornell University (US)
  • BGI Group (China) (CN)
Corresponding author
  • Kukekova, Anna V.
  • Zhang, Guojie
Venue
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Published
2018-08-06
Volume
2
Issue
9
Pages
1479-1491
ISSN
2397-334X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2803750243
Cited by
145
References
161
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 25 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 7
FWCI
11.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Ecology & Evolution (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Smith ScholarWorks (Smith College) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (538922)
  • Lundbeckfonden (R190-2014-2827)
  • Russian Science Foundation (16‐14‐10009, 16-14-10216)
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM120782)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
Keywords
red fox, genome assembly, aggression, domestication, SORCS1, AMPA receptors, neurexin, synaptic plasticity, heterozygosity, population divergence, behavioural selection, dog domestication, behavioral genetics
MeSH terms
Aggression, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Foxes, Male, Genome

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