Journal
GENOME BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 6, Issue 11, Pages 3115-3121Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evu245
Keywords
gray wolf; self-domestication; fear response; learning; memory
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [31321002, 91231108, 31123005]
- 973 program [2013CB835200]
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Dogs shared a much closer relationship with humans than any other domesticated animals, probably due to their unique social cognitive capabilities, which were hypothesized to be a by-product of selection for tameness toward humans. Here, we demonstrate that genes involved in glutamate metabolism, which account partially for fear response, indeed show the greatest population differentiation by whole-genome comparison of dogs and wolves. However, the changing direction of their expression supports a role in increasing excitatory synaptic plasticity in dogs rather than reducing fear response. Because synaptic plasticity are widely believed to be cellular correlates of learning and memory, this change may alter the learning and memory abilities of ancient scavenging wolves, weaken the fear reaction toward humans, and prompt the initial interspecific contact.
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