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Tutorial: Domestication of the Silver Fox and its Research Findings |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 11:00 AM–11:50 AM |
| Douglas B |
| Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: William D. Timberlake (Indiana University) |
| ANNA KUKEKOVA (Baker Institute/College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University), Lyudmila N. Trut (Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) |
 Dr. Anna Kukekova, Ph.D. a Research Associate at the Baker Institute for Animal Health, Cornell University, is studying genetics of simple and complex traits in canids. Her main research interests include canine genetics and evolutionary genetics of behavior.
Kukekova graduated from St. Petersburg State University, Russia in 1993 and received a Ph.D. from the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1999. She came to Cornell University in 1999 as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Drs. Acland and Aguirre on the genetics of eye disorders in dogs. In 2001, she became involved in the study of domestication in silver foxes. Kukekova, et al., have demonstrated that canine microsatellites can be used for genetic studies in foxes and developed the first meiotic linkage map of the fox genome using such markers. Together with collaborators at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics and at Cornell University, Kukekova implemented a new quantitative method for assignment of fox behavioral phenotypes. Analysis of these behavioral phenotypes in relation to genotypes in the powerful sets of fox experimental pedigrees have allowed the mapping of genetic loci implicated in fox behavior. |
| Abstract: The farm-bred silver fox (Vulpes vulpes) has been subjected to strong selective breeding for docility for about 45 years at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is believed that during early domestication, all animals were challenged by the same evolutionary situation that is produced by selection pressure on the specific behavioral traits that facilitate adaptation to humans. This event is considered as a key mechanism of morphological transformation of domestic animals. As a result of the selection for the capacity to be tame, a strain of foxes with behavioral responses to humans analogous to those of the domestic dog has been produced. It is remarkable that the morphological characters of domestication have been acquired along with doglike behavioral patterns. Developmental shifts and neurohormonal changes in the domesticated foxes have been demonstrated. The strong heritability of tame behavior has been confirmed in experimental pedigrees among foxes. A rigorous system for measuring behavior as a truly continuous variable has been implemented. The availability of mapping tools developed for the canine genome has enabled the development of a fox meiotic linkage map and thus the mapping of loci influencing these behavioral phenotypes in the fox genome. |
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