Date: September 27, 2018
Source: Cornell University
In 1959,
Russian scientists began an experiment to breed a population of silver foxes,
selecting and breeding foxes that exhibited friendliness toward people. They
wanted to know if they could repeat the adaptations for tameness that must have
occurred in domestic dogs. Subsequently they also bred another population of
foxes for more aggressive behavior.
After 10
generations, a small fraction of the tame-bred foxes displayed dog-like
domesticated behavior when people approached. Over time, an increasing fraction
of the foxes showed this friendly behavior.
Now, after
more than 50 generations of selective breeding, a new Cornell University-led
study compares gene expression of tame and aggressive silver foxes in two areas
of the brain, shedding light on genes responsible for social behavior.
The study,
published online Sept. 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, identified genes that were altered in tame animals in two areas of
the brain involved with learning and memory.
"That
such a radical change in temperament could be accomplished so quickly is truly
remarkable," said Andrew Clark, professor in the Department of Molecular
Biology and Genetics at Cornell and a senior co-author of the paper.
The research
team obtained prefrontal cortex and basal forebrain brain tissue samples of 12
tame and 12 aggressive foxes from the Institute for Cytology and Genetics in
Novosibirsk, Russia, where the foxes were bred.
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