Have you ever wanted to own a pet tiger, but thought it was impossible for safety reasons? This may become a reality in the future. Scientists in Germany are investigating the genetic changes underlying the differences in behaviour, which may lead to the domestication of wild animals.
In one experiment, tameness and aggression were compared in rats, as scientists believe this is the underlying principal in domestication. To determine if behaviour differences are due to gene differences, as opposed to the environment, the pups of aggressive rats were swapped with the pups of the tame parents; the pups were to be reared by behaviourally different parents. Consistent to expectations, the fostered rats showed behavioural characteristics of their genetic parents, thus demonstrating that behaviour differences are genetic. Simply investigating and comparing the DNA of the tame and aggressive rats, would not allow gene variants to be concluded, so the rats were cross-bred. In the second generation, the hybrids had behavioural characteristics ranging from exceedingly tame to immensely aggressive, and these were matched against genetic markers. The results highlighted key regions of the genome (at least five genes with complex interactions) which were responsible for tameness. Research is currently being conducted to pinpoint the mutations and the genes responsible for the behavioural differences.
In the future, these findings will be compared to research conducted on silver foxes, which found that tame foxes have a ‘reduced activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis’ (controls response to stress) and had higher levels of serotonin (neurotransmitter responsible for inhibiting aggressive behaviour). If a common genetic link is discovered between the different organisms, research will be conducted to find similar genes in other organisms in the hope that wild animals can be safely domesticated. If successful, comparisons will be made to the human genome to further understand human behavioural differences. Scientists hope that pharmaceutical companies will exploit the findings to successfully treat behavioural disorders in humans.
By 42027614
For more information visit:
My Little Zebra: The Secrets of Domestication
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427281.500-my-little-zebra-the-secrets-of-domestication.html
