Wu Baosheng, Ren Qingmiao, Yan Xiaoting, Zhao Fei, Qin Tao, Xin Peidong, Cui Xinxin, Wang Kun, Du Rui, Røed Knut H, Côté Steeve D, Yannic Glenn, Li Zhipeng, Qiu Qiang
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Qinling Ecological Intelligent Monitoring and Protection, School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
Evol Lett. 2024 Mar 5;8(4):494-504. doi: 10.1093/evlett/qrae006. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Reindeer have long been served as vital subsistence resources for inhabitants of Arctic and subarctic regions owing to their domestication. However, the evolutionary relationships and divergence times among different reindeer populations, genetic traits that distinguish domesticated reindeer, and factors that contribute to their relative docility compared with that of other Cervidae specie, remain unclear. In this study, we sequenced the genomes of 32 individuals from wild and domestic reindeer populations that inhabit Arctic and subarctic regions. We found that reindeer experienced 2 or more independent domestication events characterized by weak artificial selection pressure and limited significant differences in genomic parameters between wild and domestic populations. Alterations in conserved noncoding elements in the reindeer genomes, particularly those associated with nervous system development, may have contributed to their domestication by rendering the nervous system less responsive. Together, our results suggest that inherent species-specific traits, rather than intense artificial selection, may have played a significant role in the relatively docile behavior of reindeer and offer valuable insights into the domestication process of these animals.
由于驯鹿已被驯化，长期以来一直是北极和亚北极地区居民重要的生存资源。然而，不同驯鹿种群之间的进化关系和分化时间、区分家养驯鹿的遗传特征，以及与其他鹿科物种相比，导致它们相对温顺的因素仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们对来自北极和亚北极地区的野生和家养驯鹿种群的32个个体的基因组进行了测序。我们发现，驯鹿经历了2次或更多次独立的驯化事件，其特征是人工选择压力较弱，野生和家养种群之间的基因组参数差异有限。驯鹿基因组中保守非编码元件的改变，特别是那些与神经系统发育相关的元件，可能通过使神经系统反应性降低而促进了它们的驯化。总之，我们的结果表明，固有的物种特异性特征，而非强烈的人工选择，可能在驯鹿相对温顺的行为中发挥了重要作用，并为这些动物的驯化过程提供了有价值的见解。
