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. 2014 Jul;197(3):795-808.
doi: 10.1534/genetics.114.165423. Epub 2014 Jul 14.

The "domestication syndrome" in mammals: a unified explanation based on neural crest cell behavior and genetics

Adam S Wilkins  1 , Richard W Wrangham  2 , W Tecumseh Fitch  3
Affiliations

The "domestication syndrome" in mammals: a unified explanation based on neural crest cell behavior and genetics

Adam S Wilkins et al. Genetics. 2014 Jul.

Erratum in

  • Genetics. 2014 Dec;198(4):1771

Abstract

Charles Darwin, while trying to devise a general theory of heredity from the observations of animal and plant breeders, discovered that domesticated mammals possess a distinctive and unusual suite of heritable traits not seen in their wild progenitors. Some of these traits also appear in domesticated birds and fish. The origin of Darwin's "domestication syndrome" has remained a conundrum for more than 140 years. Most explanations focus on particular traits, while neglecting others, or on the possible selective factors involved in domestication rather than the underlying developmental and genetic causes of these traits. Here, we propose that the domestication syndrome results predominantly from mild neural crest cell deficits during embryonic development. Most of the modified traits, both morphological and physiological, can be readily explained as direct consequences of such deficiencies, while other traits are explicable as indirect consequences. We first show how the hypothesis can account for the multiple, apparently unrelated traits of the syndrome and then explore its genetic dimensions and predictions, reviewing the available genetic evidence. The article concludes with a brief discussion of some genetic and developmental questions raised by the idea, along with specific predictions and experimental tests.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Developmental schematic of the “domestication syndrome” in relation to the neural crest. The blue tube indicates the approximate position of the neural crest in the early embryo, and the blue arrows indicate pathways of neural crest cell migration.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Diagrammatic representation of the neural crest hypothesis of the domestication syndrome, illustrating how selection for tameness, leading to decreased neural crest input into the sympathetic and adrenal systems, would cause the other observed components of the domestication syndrome as unselected by-products, resulting in a “mild neurocristopathy.” Arrows indicate predicted directions of influence on traits discussed in the text, as separated into direct and indirect developmental (mechanistic) effects.
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