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Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits

Domestication leads to phenotypic characteristics that have been described to be similar across species. However, this “domestication syndrome” has been subject to debate, related to a lack of evidence for certain characteristics in many species. Here we review diverse literature and provide new dat...

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Autores principales: Geiger, Madeleine, Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R., Sherratt, Emma
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9804214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35934897
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.23171
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author Geiger, Madeleine
Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R.
Sherratt, Emma
author_facet Geiger, Madeleine
Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R.
Sherratt, Emma
author_sort Geiger, Madeleine
collection PubMed
description Domestication leads to phenotypic characteristics that have been described to be similar across species. However, this “domestication syndrome” has been subject to debate, related to a lack of evidence for certain characteristics in many species. Here we review diverse literature and provide new data on cranial shape changes due to domestication in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a preliminary case study, thus contributing novel evidence to the debate. We quantified cranial shape of 30 wild and domestic rabbits using micro‐computed tomography scans and three‐dimensional geometric morphometrics. The goal was to test (1) if the domesticates exhibit shorter and broader snouts, smaller teeth, and smaller braincases than their wild counterparts; (2) to what extent allometric scaling is responsible for cranial shape variation; (3) if there is evidence for more variation in the neural crest‐derived parts of the cranium compared with those derived of the mesoderm, in accordance with the “neural crest hypothesis.” Our own data are consistent with older literature records, suggesting that although there is evidence for some cranial characteristics of the “domestication syndrome” in rabbits, facial length is not reduced. In accordance with the “neural crest hypothesis,” we found more shape variation in neural crest versus mesoderm‐derived parts of the cranium. Within the domestic group, allometric scaling relationships of the snout, the braincase, and the teeth shed new light on ubiquitous patterns among related taxa. This study—albeit preliminary due to the limited sample size—adds to the growing evidence concerning nonuniform patterns associated with domestication.
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spelling pubmed-98042142023-01-03 Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits Geiger, Madeleine Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R. Sherratt, Emma J Exp Zool B Mol Dev Evol Research Articles Domestication leads to phenotypic characteristics that have been described to be similar across species. However, this “domestication syndrome” has been subject to debate, related to a lack of evidence for certain characteristics in many species. Here we review diverse literature and provide new data on cranial shape changes due to domestication in the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a preliminary case study, thus contributing novel evidence to the debate. We quantified cranial shape of 30 wild and domestic rabbits using micro‐computed tomography scans and three‐dimensional geometric morphometrics. The goal was to test (1) if the domesticates exhibit shorter and broader snouts, smaller teeth, and smaller braincases than their wild counterparts; (2) to what extent allometric scaling is responsible for cranial shape variation; (3) if there is evidence for more variation in the neural crest‐derived parts of the cranium compared with those derived of the mesoderm, in accordance with the “neural crest hypothesis.” Our own data are consistent with older literature records, suggesting that although there is evidence for some cranial characteristics of the “domestication syndrome” in rabbits, facial length is not reduced. In accordance with the “neural crest hypothesis,” we found more shape variation in neural crest versus mesoderm‐derived parts of the cranium. Within the domestic group, allometric scaling relationships of the snout, the braincase, and the teeth shed new light on ubiquitous patterns among related taxa. This study—albeit preliminary due to the limited sample size—adds to the growing evidence concerning nonuniform patterns associated with domestication. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-08-07 2022-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9804214/ /pubmed/35934897 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.23171 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Geiger, Madeleine
Sánchez‐Villagra, Marcelo R.
Sherratt, Emma
Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title_full Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title_fullStr Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title_full_unstemmed Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title_short Cranial shape variation in domestication: A pilot study on the case of rabbits
title_sort cranial shape variation in domestication: a pilot study on the case of rabbits
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9804214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35934897
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.23171
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