Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Research article2009Peer reviewedOpen access

Genetic Architecture of Tameness in a Rat Model of Animal Domestication

Albert, Frank W.; Carlborg, Orjan; Plyusnina, Irina; Besnier, Francois; Hedwig, Daniela; Lautenschlaeger, Susann; Lorenz, Doreen; McIntosh, Jenny; Neumann, Christof; Richter, Henning; Zeising, Claudia; Kozhemyakina, Rimma; Shchepina, Olesya; Kratzsch, Juergen; Trut, Lyudmila; Teupser, Daniel; Thiery, Joachim; Schoeneberg, Torsten; Andersson, Leif; Paabo, Svante

Abstract

A common feature of domestic animals is tameness-i.e., they tolerate and are unafraid of human presence and handling. To gain insight into the genetic basis of tameness and aggression, we studied an intercross between two lines of rats (Rattus norvegicus) selected over >60 generations for increased tameness and increased aggression against humans, respectively. We measured 45 traits, including tameness and aggression, anxiety-related traits, organ weights, and levels of serum components in >700 rats from an intercross population. Using 201 genetic markers, we identified two significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) for tameness. These loci overlap with QTL for adrenal gland weight and for anxiety-related traits and are part of a five-locus epistatic network influencing tameness. An additional QTL influences the occurrence of white coal. spots, but shows no significant effect on tameness. The loci described here are important starting points for finding the genes that cause tameness in these rats and potentially in domestic animals in general.

Published in

Genetics
2009, volume: 182, number: 2, pages: 541-554

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.109.102186

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/27763