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Lesch R, Fitch WT. The domestication of the larynx: The neural crest connection. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY. PART B, MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2024; 342:342-349. [PMID: 38591232 PMCID: PMC7616162 DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024]
Abstract
Wolves howl and dogs bark, both are able to produce variants of either vocalization, but we see a distinct difference in usage between wild and domesticate. Other domesticates also show distinct changes to their vocal output: domestic cats retain meows, a distinctly subadult trait in wildcats. Such differences in acoustic output are well-known, but the causal mechanisms remain little-studied. Potential links between domestication and vocal output are intriguing for multiple reasons, and offer a unique opportunity to explore a prominent hypothesis in domestication research: the neural crest/domestication syndrome hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests that in the early stages of domestication, selection for tame individuals decreased neural crest cell (NCCs) proliferation and migration, which led to a downregulation of the sympathetic arousal system, and hence reduced fear and reactive aggression. NCCs are a transitory stem cell population crucial during embryonic development that tie to diverse tissue types and organ systems. One of these neural-crest derived systems is the larynx, the main vocal source in mammals. We argue that this connection between NCCs and the larynx provides a powerful test of the predictions of the neural crest/domestication syndrome hypothesis, discriminating its predictions from those of other current hypotheses concerning domestication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffaela Lesch
- Department of Biology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
| | - W Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Gleeson BT, Wilson LAB. Shared reproductive disruption, not neural crest or tameness, explains the domestication syndrome. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222464. [PMID: 36946116 PMCID: PMC10031412 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Altered neural crest cell (NCC) behaviour is an increasingly cited explanation for the domestication syndrome in animals. However, recent authors have questioned this explanation, while others cast doubt on whether domestication syndrome even exists. Here, we review published literature concerning this syndrome and the NCC hypothesis, together with recent critiques of both. We synthesize these contributions and propose a novel interpretation, arguing shared trait changes under ancient domestication resulted primarily from shared disruption of wild reproductive regimes. We detail four primary selective pathways for 'reproductive disruption' under domestication and contrast these succinct and demonstrable mechanisms with cryptic genetic associations posited by the NCC hypothesis. In support of our perspective, we illustrate numerous important ways in which NCCs contribute to vertebrate reproductive phenotypes, and argue it is not surprising that features derived from these cells would be coincidentally altered under major selective regime changes, as occur in domestication. We then illustrate several pertinent examples of Darwin's 'unconscious selection' in action, and compare applied selection and phenotypic responses in each case. Lastly, we explore the ramifications of reproductive disruption for wider evolutionary discourse, including links to wild 'self-domestication' and 'island effect', and discuss outstanding questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ben Thomas Gleeson
- Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Laura A B Wilson
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
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Lesch R, Kitchener AC, Hantke G, Kotrschal K, Fitch WT. Cranial volume and palate length of cats, Felis spp., under domestication, hybridization and in wild populations. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:210477. [PMID: 35116138 PMCID: PMC8790375 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Reduced brain size, compared with wild individuals, is argued to be a key characteristic of domesticated mammal species, and often cited as a key component of a putative 'domestication syndrome'. However, brain size comparisons are often based on old, inaccessible literature and in some cases drew comparisons between domestic animals and wild species that are no longer thought to represent the true progenitor species of the domestic species in question. Here we replicate studies on cranial volumes in domestic cats that were published in the 1960s and 1970s, comparing wildcats, domestic cats and their hybrids. Our data indicate that domestic cats indeed, have smaller cranial volumes (implying smaller brains) relative to both European wildcats (Felis silvestris) and the wild ancestors of domestic cats, the African wildcats (Felis lybica), verifying older results. We further found that hybrids of domestic cats and European wildcats have cranial volumes that cluster between those of the two parent species. Apart from replicating these studies, we also present new data on palate length in Felis cat skulls, showing that domestic cat palates are shorter than those of European wildcats but longer than those of African wildcats. Our data are relevant to current discussions of the causes and consequences of the 'domestication syndrome' in domesticated mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raffaela Lesch
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University for Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Georg Hantke
- Department Natural Sciences, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Kurt Kotrschal
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - W. Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Niego A, Benítez-Burraco A. Are feralization and domestication truly mirror processes? ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2021.1975314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amy Niego
- PhD Program, Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, C/Palos de la Frontera s/n, 41004 Sevilla, Spain
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics, and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, C/Palos de la Frontera s/n, 41004 Sevilla, Spain (E-mail: )
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Wilkins AS, Wrangham R, Fitch WT. The neural crest/domestication syndrome hypothesis, explained: reply to Johnsson, Henriksen, and Wright. Genetics 2021; 219:iyab098. [PMID: 34849912 PMCID: PMC8633094 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Adam S Wilkins
- Institute of Theoretical Biology, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Richard Wrangham
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - W Tecumseh Fitch
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
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Trut LN, Kharlamova AV, Pilipenko AS, Herbeck YE. The Fox Domestication Experiment and Dog Evolution: A View Based on Modern Molecular, Genetic, and Archaeological Data. RUSS J GENET+ 2021. [DOI: 10.1134/s1022795421070140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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Wrangham RW. Targeted conspiratorial killing, human self-domestication and the evolution of groupishness. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2021; 3:e26. [PMID: 37588548 PMCID: PMC10427284 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Groupishness is a set of tendencies to respond to group members with prosociality and cooperation in ways that transcend apparent self-interest. Its evolution is puzzling because it gives the impression of breaking the ordinary rules of natural selection. Boehm's solution is that moral elements of groupishness originated and evolved as a result of group members becoming efficient executioners of antisocial individuals, and he noted that self-domestication would have proceeded from the same dynamic. Self-domestication is indicated first at ~300,000 years ago and has probably gathered pace ever since, suggesting selection for self-domestication and groupishness for at least 12,000 generations. Here I propose that a specifically human style of violence, targeted conspiratorial killing, contributed importantly to both self-domestication and to promoting groupishness. Targeted conspiratorial killing is unknown in chimpanzees or any other vertebrate, and is significant because it permits coalitions to kill antisocial individuals cheaply. The hypothesis that major elements of groupishness are due to targeted conspiratorial killing helps explain why they are much more elaborated in humans than in other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard W. Wrangham
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Lord KA, Larson G, Karlsson EK. Reply to Zeder and Trut et al.: An Attractive Hypothesis in Need of Evidence. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:651-652. [PMID: 32517961 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/21/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn A Lord
- Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Greger Larson
- The Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network, Research Laboratory for Archaeology and History of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK
| | - Elinor K Karlsson
- Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
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