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- Agnvall, Beatrix, et al.
(författare)
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Heritability and Genetic Correlations of Fear-Related Behaviour in Red Jungelfowl -Possible Implications for Early Domestication
- 2012
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:4, s. e35162-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Domesticated species differ from their wild ancestors in a number of traits, generally referred to as the domesticated phenotype. Reduced fear of humans is assumed to have been an early prerequisite for the successful domestication of virtually all species. We hypothesized that fear of humans is linked to other domestication related traits. For three generations, we selected Red Junglefowl (ancestors of domestic chickens) solely on the reaction in a standardized Fear of Human-test. In this, the birds were exposed for a gradually approaching human, and their behaviour was continuously scored. This generated three groups of animals, high (H), low (L) and intermediate (I) fearful birds. The birds in each generation were additionally tested in a battery of behaviour tests, measuring aspects of fearfulness, exploration, and sociality. The results demonstrate that the variation in fear response of Red Junglefowl towards humans has a significant genetic component and is genetically correlated to behavioural responses in other contexts, of which some are associated with fearfulness and others with exploration. Hence, selection of Red Junglefowl on low fear for humans can be expected to lead to a correlated change of other behavioural traits over generations. It is therefore likely that domestication may have caused an initial suite of behavioural modifications, even without selection on anything besides tameness.
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| 2. |
- Campler, Magnus, et al.
(författare)
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Fearfulness in red junglefowl and domesticated White Leghorn chickens
- 2009
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Ingår i: Behavioural Processes. - : Elsevier BV. - 0376-6357 .- 1872-8308. ; 81:1, s. 39-43
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It may be hypothesised that reduced fearfulness has been a major target of selection during domestication. We tested 20 domesticated White Leghorn (WL) chickens and their ancestors, red junglefowl (RJF), in four different fear tests (Open Field, Novel Object. Aerial Predator, and Fear for Humans). The tests were designed to measure reactions to different types of potentially fearful stimuli. The correlations between durations of the same four variables from each of the tests (Stand/sit alert, Locomotion, Fly/jump, and Vocalisation) were analysed with principal components analysis (PCA). In the PCA, 33.5% of the variation in responses was explained by a single factor, interpreted as a general fear factor. Higher scores on this were related to stronger fear reactions. Red jungle fowl scored significantly higher than White Leghorns wet on this factor, and also had a longer latency to feed in the Fear of Humans-test, used as an independent measure of fear in the same tests. The results suggest that selection for low fearfulness has been an important element of domestication.
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| 3. |
- Jöngren, Markus, 1981-, et al.
(författare)
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Brain gene expression in relation to fearfulness in female red junglefowl (Gallus gallus)
- 2010
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Ingår i: Genes, Brain and Behavior. - : International and Neural genetics Society. - 1601-1848 .- 1601-183X. ; 9:7, s. 751-758
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The biology of fear is central to animal welfare and hasbeen a major target for selection during domestication.Fear responses were studied in female red junglefowl(RJF), the ancestor of domesticated chickens. A totalof 31 females were tested in a ground predator test,an aerial predator test and a tonic immobility (TI)test, in order to assess their level of fearfulnessacross different situations. Two to six variables fromeach test were entered into a principal component(PC) analysis, which showed one major fearfulnesscomponent (explaining 27% of the variance). Based onthe PC scores, four high- and four low-fearful birds werethen selected for gene expression analysis. From eachof these birds, the midbrain region (including thalamus,hypothalamus, pituitary, mesencephalon, pons, nucleustractus solitarii and medulla oblongata), was collectedand global gene expression compared between groupsusing a 14k chicken cDNA microarray. There were 13significantly differentially expressed (DE) genes (basedonM > 1 andB > 0; FDR-adjusted P < 0.05) between thefearful and non-fearful females. Among the DE genes,we identified the neuroprotein Axin1, two potentialDNA/RNA regulating proteins and a retrotransposontranscript situated in a well-studied quantitative traitloci (QTL) region on chromosome 1, known to affectseveral domestication-related traits. The differentiallyexpressed genes may be part of a possible molecularmechanism controlling fear responses in fowl.
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