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. 2014 Apr 29;111(17):6153-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1312984110. Epub 2014 Apr 21.

Evaluating the roles of directed breeding and gene flow in animal domestication

Fiona B Marshall  1 , Keith Dobney, Tim Denham, José M Capriles
Affiliations

Evaluating the roles of directed breeding and gene flow in animal domestication

Fiona B Marshall et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

For the last 150 y scholars have focused upon the roles of intentional breeding and genetic isolation as fundamental to understanding the process of animal domestication. This analysis of ethnoarchaeological, archaeological, and genetic data suggests that long-term gene flow between wild and domestic stocks was much more common than previously assumed, and that selective breeding of females was largely absent during the early phases of animal domestication. These findings challenge assumptions about severe genetic bottlenecks during domestication, expectations regarding monophyletic origins, and interpretations of multiple domestications. The findings also raise new questions regarding ways in which behavioral and phenotypic domestication traits were developed and maintained.

Keywords: donkey; pig; reproductive isolation; selected breeding; zooarchaeology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Intentional capture and out-crossing of donkeys, wild asses, and hybrids. (A) African donkey with shoulder cross (Image courtesy of Lior Weissbrod). (B) Tuareg taming captured Saharan wild ass or feral donkey, 1951 (21) (Image courtesy of Ida Nicolaisen and the Carlsberg Foundation). (C) Donkey-Somali wild ass hybrid with cross and striped legs, Berbera 1900s. Donkeys were tied outside the village to breed with Somali wild asses (20). (D) Somali wild asses with striped legs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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