Facial shape differences between rats selected for tame and aggressive behaviors
Open accessAbstract
Domestication has been consistently accompanied by a suite of traits called the domestication syndrome. These include increased docility, changes in coat coloration, prolonged juvenile behaviors, modified function of adrenal glands and reduced craniofacial dimensions. Wilkins et al recently proposed that the mechanistic factor underlying traits that encompass the domestication syndrome was altered neural crest cell (NCC) development. NCC form the precursors to a large number of tissue types including pigment cells, adrenal glands, teeth and the bones of the face. The hypothesis that deficits in NCC development can account for the domestication syndrome was partly based on the outcomes of Dmitri Belyaev's domestication experiments initially conducted on silver foxes. After generations of selecting for tameness, the foxes displayed phenotypes observed in domesticated species. Belyaev also had a colony of rats selected over 64 generations for either tameness or defensive aggression towards humans. Here we focus on the facial morphology of Belyaev's tame, 'domesticated' rats to test whether: 1) tameness in rats causes craniofacial changes similar to those observed in the foxes; 2) facial shape, i.e. NCC-derived region, is distinct in the tame and aggressive rats. We used computed-tomography scans of rat skulls and landmark-based geometric morphometrics to quantify and analyze the facial skeleton. We found facial shape differences between the tame and aggressive rats that were independent of size and which mirrored changes seen in domesticated animals compared to their wild counterparts. However, there was no evidence of reduced sexual dimorphism in the face of the tame rats. This indicates that not all morphological changes in NCC-derived regions in the rats follow the pattern of shape change reported in domesticated animals or the silver foxes. Thus, certain phenotypic trends that are part of the domestication syndrome might not be consistently present in all experimental animal models.
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Selection for tameness is enough to bring about a constellation of domestic traits, many of which humans share.
“Crucially, this suggests that selection for tameness is enough to bring about a constellation of domestic traits (see [33]), many of which humans share.”
From Self-domestication in Homo sapiens: Insights from comparative genomics (2017) · cites this paper as [33]
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- Authors
- Singh, N., Albert, F. W., Plyusnina, I., Trut, L., Pӓӓbo, S., & Harvati, K.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Institute of Cytology and Genetics (RU)
- Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Singh, Nandini
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2017-04-03
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e0175043
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5378367
- OpenAlex
- W2605254503
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 6.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (INST 37/706)
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- domestication syndrome, neural crest cells, facial morphology, craniofacial morphology, tameness, defensive aggression, silver fox, rats, sexual dimorphism, skull shape, geometric morphometrics, animal domestication
- MeSH terms
- Domestication, Aggression, Animals, Animals, Domestic, Behavior, Animal, Breeding, Face, Facial Expression, Foxes, Skull, Rats
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