Question

Emphasize the genetic interphase that links evolution to domestication/existance of present day plant and animal species as a result of speciation​

Answer 1

Answer:

We review the evolution of domestic animals, emphasizing the effect of the earliest steps of domestication on its course. Using the first domesticated species, the dog (Canis familiaris) as an illustration, we describe the evolutionary specificities of the historical domestication, such as the high level and wide range of diversity. We suggest that the process of earliest domestication via unconscious and later conscious selection of human-defined behavioral traits may accelerate phenotypic variations. The review is based on the results of the long-term experiment designed to reproduce early mammalian domestication in the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) selected for tameability, or amenability to domestication. We describe changes in behavior, morphology and physiology that appeared in the fox during its selection for tameability and that were similar to those observed in the domestic dog. Based on the experimental fox data and survey of relevant data, we discuss the developmental, genetic and possible molecular-genetic mechanisms of these changes. We assign the causative role in evolutionary transformation of domestic animals to selection for behavior and to the neurospecific regulatory genes it affects.

Answer 2

We review the evolution of domestic animals, emphasizing the effect of the earliest steps of domestication on its course. Using the first domesticated species, the dog (Canis familiaris) as an illustration, we describe the evolutionary specificities of the historical domestication, such as the high level and wide range of diversity. We suggest that the process of earliest domestication via unconscious and later conscious selection of human-defined behavioral traits may accelerate phenotypic variations. The review is based on the results of the long-term experiment designed to reproduce early mammalian domestication in the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) selected for tameability, or amenability to domestication. We describe changes in behavior, morphology and physiology that appeared in the fox during its selection for tameability and that were similar to those observed in the domestic dog. Based on the experimental fox data and survey of relevant data, we discuss the developmental, genetic and possible molecular-genetic mechanisms of these changes. We assign the causative role in evolutionary transformation of domestic animals to selection for behavior and to the neurospecific regulatory genes it affects.

level and wide range of diversity. We suggest that the process of earliest domestication via unconscious and later conscious selection of human-defined behavioral traits may accelerate phenotypic variations. The review is based on the results of the long-term experiment designed to reproduce early mammalian domestication in the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) selected for tameability, or amenability to domestication. We describe changes in behavior, morphology and physiology that appeared in the fox during its selection for tameability and that were similar to those observed in the domestic dog. Based on the experimental fox data and survey of relevant data, we discuss the developmental, genetic and possible molecular-genetic mechanisms of these changes. We assign the causative role in evolutionary transformation of domestic animals to selection for behavior and to the neurospecific regulatory genes it affects.

Domestication in evolutionary terms – from Darwin to the present day

It is well-known that Darwin has focused much attention on domestication as the process during which striking variation arises. Although believing that the range of changes in any direction may be different, he admitted that “tendency to general variability is unlimited”.

He repeatedly raised the question why domestic animals are so variable. In his analysis of the causes of variation under domestication, Darwin has thought them to be exclusively due to environmental influences. He has maintained that the state of the parent organism during fertilization or embryonic development has profound effects on offspring characters. Darwin did emphasized that the organismal constitution will largely determine the kind of changes induced by the environment and acknowledged the occurrence of peculiarities due to unknown laws acting on individual constitution.

Besides environmental influences on variation, Darwin has noted the effects of crosses and inbreeding known in his time from the experience of animal breeders. Relying on their results, Darwin has provided vivid examples of the results of breeding selection apparent in a comparatively short time. However, he has also assigned a great role to unconscious selection acting for thousands of years on animals. Because all our domestic animals have been first exposed to domestication in very remote periods, it is unknown when animals started to change and at what BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology

Author Manuscript

HHS Public Access

Animal evolution during domestication: the domesticated fox as a model

Lyudmila Trut, Irina Oskina, and Anastasiya Kharlamova