Cited by 38Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestockHuman-Animal Interaction StudiesGenetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

Genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) detects genetic structure and confirms behavioral QTL in tame and aggressive foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

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Johnson, Jennifer L., Wittgenstein, Helena, Mitchell, Sharon E., Hyma, Katie E., Temnykh, Svetlana V., Kharlamova, Anastasiya V., Gulevich, Rimma G., Vladimirova, Anastasiya V. +4 more·2015·PLoS ONE

Abstract

The silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) offers a novel model for studying the genetics of social behavior and animal domestication. Selection of foxes, separately, for tame and for aggressive behavior has yielded two strains with markedly different, genetically determined, behavioral phenotypes. Tame strain foxes are eager to establish human contact while foxes from the aggressive strain are aggressive and difficult to handle. These strains have been maintained as separate outbred lines for over 40 generations but their genetic structure has not been previously investigated. We applied a genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) approach to provide insights into the genetic composition of these fox populations. Sequence analysis of EcoT22I genomic libraries of tame and aggressive foxes identified 48,294 high quality SNPs. Population structure analysis revealed genetic divergence between the two strains and more diversity in the aggressive strain than in the tame one. Significant differences in allele frequency between the strains were identified for 68 SNPs. Three of these SNPs were located on fox chromosome 14 within an interval of a previously identified behavioral QTL, further supporting the importance of this region for behavior. The GBS SNP data confirmed that significant genetic diversity has been preserved in both fox populations despite many years of selective breeding. Analysis of SNP allele frequencies in the two populations identified several regions of genetic divergence between the tame and aggressive foxes, some of which may represent targets of selection for behavior. The GBS protocol used in this study significantly expanded genomic resources for the fox, and can be adapted for SNP discovery and genotyping in other canid species.

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  • NR2F2 is involved in regulating embryonic stem cell differentiation and implicated in neural crest development, and has been under selection in the domesticated fox.

    “The functionally related nuclear receptor NR2F2 is involved in regulating embryonic stem cell differentiation [66] and implicated in neural crest development, and has been under selection in the domesticated fox [67].”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [6]Trut LN. The Genetics and Phenogenetics of Domestic Behaviour In: Belyaev DK, editor. Problems in General Genetics (Proceeding of the XIV International Congress of Genetics) Vol 2 Moscow: Mir Publishers; 1980 p. 123– 37.

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Authors
Johnson, J. L., Wittgenstein, H., Mitchell, S. E., Hyma, K. E., Temnykh, S. V., Kharlamova, A. V., Gulevich, R. G., Vladimirova, A. V., Fong, H. W. F., Acland, G. M., Trut, L. N., & Kukekova, A. V.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • Cornell University (US)
  • Russian Academy of Sciences (RU)
Corresponding author
Kukekova, Anna V.
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2015-06-10
Volume
10
Issue
6
Pages
e0127013
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W641896268
Cited by
38
References
65
Citations by year
2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
FWCI
5.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (538922)
  • National Institutes of Health
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • National Institute of Mental Health (MH077811, R01MH077811)
  • Fogarty International Center (TW008098, R03TW008098)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic and phenotypic traits in livestock
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals
Keywords
silver fox, red fox, social behavior genetics, animal domestication, selective breeding, population structure, genetic divergence, SNP discovery, allele frequency, genomic resources
MeSH terms
Aggression, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Chromosome Mapping, Foxes, Gene Frequency, Genotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci

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