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Behavioural correlations of the domestication syndrome are decoupled in modern dog breeds.

ABSTRACT: Domestication is hypothesized to drive correlated responses in animal morphology, physiology and behaviour, a phenomenon known as the domestication syndrome. However, we currently lack quantitative confirmation that suites of behaviours are correlated during domestication. Here we evaluate the strength and direction of behavioural correlations among key prosocial (sociability, playfulness) and reactive (fearfulness, aggression) behaviours implicated in the domestication syndrome in 76,158 dogs representing 78 registered breeds. Consistent with the domestication syndrome hypothesis, behavioural correlations within prosocial and reactive categories demonstrated the expected direction-specificity across dogs. However, correlational strength varied between dog breeds representing early (ancient) and late (modern) stages of domestication, with ancient breeds exhibiting exaggerated correlations compared to modern breeds across prosocial and reactive behaviours. Our results suggest that suites of correlated behaviours have been temporally decoupled during dog domestication and that recent shifts in selection pressures in modern dog breeds affect the expression of domestication-related behaviours independently.

SUBMITTER: Hansen Wheat C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6546797 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Behavioural correlations of the domestication syndrome are decoupled in modern dog breeds.

Hansen Wheat Christina C Fitzpatrick John L JL Rogell Björn B Temrin Hans H

Nature communications 20190603 1

Domestication is hypothesized to drive correlated responses in animal morphology, physiology and behaviour, a phenomenon known as the domestication syndrome. However, we currently lack quantitative confirmation that suites of behaviours are correlated during domestication. Here we evaluate the strength and direction of behavioural correlations among key prosocial (sociability, playfulness) and reactive (fearfulness, aggression) behaviours implicated in the domestication syndrome in 76,158 dogs r ...[more]

PMID: 31160605

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Project description:Background and objectivesThe diversity of eutherian reproductive strategies has led to variation in many traits, such as number of offspring, age of reproductive maturity and gestation length. While reproductive trait variation has been extensively investigated and is well established in mammals, the genetic loci contributing to this variation remain largely unknown. The domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris is a powerful model for studies of the genetics of inherited disease due to its unique history of domestication. To gain insight into the genetic basis of reproductive traits across domestic dog breeds, we collected phenotypic data for four traits, cesarean section rate, litter size, stillbirth rate and gestation length, from primary literature and breeders' handbooks.MethodologyBy matching our phenotypic data to genomic data from the Cornell Veterinary Biobank, we performed genome-wide association analyses for these four reproductive traits, using body mass and kinship among breeds as covariates.ResultsWe identified 12 genome-wide significant associations between these traits and genetic loci, including variants near CACNA2D3 with gestation length, MSRB3 and MSANTD1 with litter size, SMOC2 with cesarean section rate and UFM1 with stillbirth rate. A few of these loci, such as CACNA2D3 and MSRB3, have been previously implicated in human reproductive pathologies, whereas others have been associated with domestication-related traits, including brachycephaly (SMOC2) and coat curl (KRT71).Conclusions and implicationsWe hypothesize that the artificial selection that gave rise to dog breeds also influenced the observed variation in their reproductive traits. Overall, our work establishes the domestic dog as a system for studying the genetics of reproductive biology and disease.Lay summaryThe genetic contributors to variation in mammalian reproductive traits remain largely unknown. We took advantage of the domestic dog, a powerful model system, to test for associations between genome-wide variants and four reproductive traits (cesarean section rate, litter size, stillbirth rate and gestation length) that vary extensively across breeds. We identified associations at a dozen loci, including ones previously associated with domestication-related traits, suggesting that selection on dog breeds also influenced their reproductive traits.

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Behavioural correlations of the domestication syndrome are decoupled in modern dog breeds.

Publications

Behavioural correlations of the domestication syndrome are decoupled in modern dog breeds.

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