Revisiting two hypotheses on the “domestication syndrome” in light of genomic data.
Open accessAbstract
Domesticated mammals of many different species share a set of physical and physiological traits that are not displayed by any of their wild progenitors. This suite of traits, now termed the “domestication syndrome” (DS), has been a puzzle since Charles Darwin discovered it. Two general explanations of its basis have been proposed, which in principle, could also apply to other vertebrates, such as fish and birds, whose domesticated varieties show some of its elements. The two ideas are termed here, respectively, the thyroid hormone hypothesis or the THH, and the neural crest cell hypothesis, the NCCH. The two ideas make distinctly different genetic predictions. Here, the current relevant evidence from genomics is evaluated and it is concluded that the NCCH has more support. Nevertheless, one set of observations, from chickens, suggest a potentially important role of altered thyroid metabolism in domestication. In addition, recent studies indicate the possibility of additional genetic factors in domestication, affecting tameness and sociality, that may go beyond either hypothesis. The tasks that lie ahead to fully ascertain the genetic bases of the “domestication syndrome” and the behaviors that characterize mammalian domestication are discussed briefly.
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Several selective sweep scans in domestic animals have reported enrichments of neural crest-related genes and individual candidate genes related to the neural crest.
“Since the publication of Wilkins et al. (2014), several selective sweep scans in domestic animals have reported enrichments of neural crest-related genes and individual candidate genes related to the neural crest (reviewed by Wilkins 2017).”
From The neural crest cell hypothesis: no unified explanation for domestication (2021) · cites this paper as Wilkins 2017
A biological hypothesis for the production of domestication syndromes has received important support, including evidence that genetic variants underlying self-domestication occur in H. sapiens but not in H. neanderthalensis or Denisovans.
“Furthermore a biological hypothesis for the production of domestication syndromes (Wilkins et al., 2014) has received important support (Wilkins, 2017; Pendleton et al., 2018), including evidence that genetic variants underlying self-domestication occur in H. sapiens but not in H. neanderthalensis or Denisovans (Theofanopoulou et al., 2017).”
From Hypotheses for the Evolution of Reduced Reactive Aggression in the Context of Human Self-Domestication (2019) · cites this paper as Wilkins, 2017
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- Authors
- Wilkins, A. S.
- Affiliations
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Wilkins, A. S.
- Venue
- Vavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding
- Published
- 2017-01-01
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 435-442
- ISSN
- 1814-554X (ISSN-L)
- 2500-3259
- 2500-0462
- OpenAlex
- W2741937797
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 2.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Vavilov Journal of Genetics and Breeding (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Keywords
- domestication syndrome, domestication, tameness, sociality, chickens, thyroid metabolism, wild progenitor
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