The genetics of domestication

Abstract

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have domesticated animals for their own purposes—food, clothing, protection, hunting or as companions. Not surprisingly, biologists have for decades taken a keen interest in the particular evolution of domesticated animals both to better understand the history of domestication itself and its effects on contemporary livestock and companion animals. The bulk of research is focused on the earlier history of human–animal co‐evolution with a general consensus that domestication began during the early Neolithic Period around 11,000 years ago, with the possible exception of dogs, which may have first been domesticated at least 30,000 years ago. The extreme goal‐directed breeding—often for cosmetic purposes—to which some animals, especially dogs, have been subjected is in fact a relatively recent phenomenon of the past two centuries; before that, the evolution of domestic animals was governed by adaptation to the different diet and conditions of expanding human settlements, and relaxed selection resulting from diminished exposure to predators. The latter sometimes reduced positive selection for the “flight” response for example.The extreme goal‐directed breeding […] to which some animals, especially dogs, have been subjected is in fact a relatively recent phenomenon of the past two centuries …Domestic animal evolution research is a highly integrative field that combines the study and dating of archaeological remains with historical records and analysis of both modern and ancient DNA, which has so far been mostly mitochondrial DNA. Although limited, it has yielded a number of insights, for instance that pigs were first domesticated in SW Asia and, around 8,500 BC, migrated into Europe along with humans. These results are based on analysis of mitochondrial signatures the pigs had acquired from local wild boar populations along the way [1] (Fig 1). Such mixing with local wild animals was indeed a common feature of …