By Elizabeth PennisiJul. 19, 2017 , 2:00 PM
Its one of the biggest perks of being a dog owner: Your pooch is thrilled when you come home, wagging itstail, wiggling itsbody, and licking you with itstongue. Now, scientists say they have pinned down the genetic basis of this affection. Using clues from humans with a genetic disorder that makes them unusually friendly, the team found variations in several genes that make dogs more affable than wolves and some dogs friendlier than others.
The study shows that the genetics of dog behavior might be even more relevant for understanding genetics of human behavior than we once thought, says Per Jensen, a behavioral geneticist from Linkping University in Sweden who was not involved with the research.
Over the past decade, geneticists have discovered the DNA involved in key dog traits, such as size and coat variation. Some DNA seems linked to personality, and one study showed that dogs and humans enforce their bonds by gazing at each other. But few studies have pinned particular behaviors to specific genes. Theres been a remarkable explosion of studies, with the exception of behavioral studies, says Robert Wayne, an evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved with the work.
Seven years ago, Monique Udell, an animal behaviorist at Oregon State University in Corvallis,and Princeton University geneticist Bridgett vonHoldt joined forces to link genes to a behavioral trait they think was pivotal to dog domestication: hypersociability. Researchers already know that dogs are hypersocial compared withwolves, and the team confirmed this by comparing the behavior of 18 dogssome purebreds, others mixed breedswith10 captive, hand-raised wolves at a research and education institute in Indiana. As others had shown, the dogs were much friendlier than the wolves, even though the wolves had been raised by people. Both hand-raised wolves and dogs greet human visitors, but dogs continue to interact with people much longer than wolves do, even when visited by a stranger.
The researchers then turned to humans with Williams-Beuren syndrome, a developmental disorder that leads to mental disability and an elfin appearance, but also often makes a person very trusting and friendly. The syndrome results from the loss of part of chromosome 7. VonHoldt focused on this stretch of DNA because she previously had found that this region, which is on dog chromosome 6, seemed to havebeen important in canine evolution. It was a long shot, says Wayne, but VonHoldt decided to see whetherthis DNA was responsible for dogs friendliness.
The DNA varied widely in both dogs, and to a lesser degree, wolves, with parts inserted, deleted, or duplicated. Almost every dog and wolf we sequenced had a different change, VonHoldt says. People with Williams-Beuren also show great variation in this region, and the variation is thought to affect the severity of the disease and peoples personalities.
The same seems true in the wolves and dogs. Hypersocial dogs had more DNA disruptions than the more aloof wolves, the team reports today in Science Advances. Disruption on a gene for a protein called GIF21, which regulates the activity of other genes, was associated with the most social dogs. A relative lack of changes in that gene seems to lead to aloof, wolflike behavior, VonHoldt says. Changes in that gene in mice cause that species to be hypersocial as well. Two other genes also were linked to sociality in dogs.
Were almost describing variation in personality, in the animals, VonHoldt explains. She and Ubell did not study enough purebred dogs to draw any conclusions about how these variations might influence breed personalities, however.
The study is exciting because it provides such strong support for the survival of the friendliest hypothesis of dog domestication, says Brian Hare, an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who was not involved in the work. In ancient wolves with these gene disruptions fear was replaced by friendliness and a new social partner [was] created.
In a sense, this is the first paper discovering the genes related to the high sociability of dogs, says Takefumi Kikusui, an animal behaviorist at Azabu University in Sagamihara, Japan, also not involved with the work. Humans too have high sociability relative to other primates. Probably, these two species, namely human and dogs, use the same genes for these social behaviors.
However, some experts think the study needs to be expanded to more dogs and wolves to be sure of the conclusions. With so few individuals the associations are at most suggestive at this point, Jensen says. Kikusui suggests they look for this gene-behavior connection in other populations of dogs and more individuals.
See more here:
What makes dogs so friendly? Study finds genetic link to super-outgoing people - Science Magazine
- June 11th At Westport, CT: Federal Red Flags, HIPAA Security Rules and Fraud Prevention - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- Do not learn Dvorak! - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- You Can’t Solve Problems By Making It Illegal To Have The Problem - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- A Force Fix for Healthcare - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- Yahble, HIT, Bubblecon, BIZDEV!, Solid State - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- 15 things that suck about the Palm Pre - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- What an Indie Genomics Lab Looks Like - November 7th, 2009 [November 7th, 2009]
- Practice Fusion: Class D Felony? - February 26th, 2010 [February 26th, 2010]
- Practice Fusion Responds - March 7th, 2010 [March 7th, 2010]
- Practice Fusion: Do the math: $44,000 is a LIE - March 10th, 2010 [March 10th, 2010]
- How Much Until Doctors Approve of 23andMe? - March 10th, 2010 [March 10th, 2010]
- Biochemicals as Media, Not Methods - March 10th, 2010 [March 10th, 2010]
- More Practice Fusion Reality Distortion - March 10th, 2010 [March 10th, 2010]
- Same Test Results: 23andMe is Myriad is BRCA is Medicine - March 12th, 2010 [March 12th, 2010]
- BRCA is 23andMe is Myriad is Medicine - March 13th, 2010 [March 13th, 2010]
- Getting Serious About Genomics as Common Medical Practice - March 15th, 2010 [March 15th, 2010]
- The New John Mackey of Genetics: Linda Avey? - March 15th, 2010 [March 15th, 2010]
- Keep the Medical, Well, Medical - March 16th, 2010 [March 16th, 2010]
- If 23andMe shuts down, it won’t be for some mundane reason like the bills weren’t paid - March 16th, 2010 [March 16th, 2010]
- If I Run A Medical Practice, How Do I Use A 23andMe? - March 17th, 2010 [March 17th, 2010]
- 23andMe Contract in Bad Faith - March 19th, 2010 [March 19th, 2010]
- Doctors CANNOT Use 23andMe Due To 23andMe’s Bad Faith Contract - March 20th, 2010 [March 20th, 2010]
- Pathway Compared to 23andMe and Navigenics - March 22nd, 2010 [March 22nd, 2010]
- There’s a Word for “Views Differ” When One View Is The State - March 24th, 2010 [March 24th, 2010]
- Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. USPTO, et al. – Opinion - March 29th, 2010 [March 29th, 2010]
- Birth of a Super Villain - April 3rd, 2010 [April 3rd, 2010]
- “Medical Products” like 23andMe must not become the new “Financial Products” - April 4th, 2010 [April 4th, 2010]
- How I Would Apply Genomic Technology In Clinical Use Today - April 5th, 2010 [April 5th, 2010]
- Gmail Enterprise: World’s Best EMR - April 6th, 2010 [April 6th, 2010]
- Brief Primer on Health Law Compliance - April 9th, 2010 [April 9th, 2010]
- Spoiler: You ARE the “Valids” - April 9th, 2010 [April 9th, 2010]
- Rachel Lehmann-Haupt Line by Line Take Down - April 9th, 2010 [April 9th, 2010]
- Is Medicare Bankrupt? What the Hell Is Going On? - April 17th, 2010 [April 17th, 2010]
- The Big Shuffle: Medicare Cuts Rates by 21.3% (but not “technically”) - April 17th, 2010 [April 17th, 2010]
- “Tech Hiring Binge” == “Fear for Your Job, Nerds” - April 18th, 2010 [April 18th, 2010]
- How Bad is Bad? $.20 on the Private Medical Insurance Dollar - April 20th, 2010 [April 20th, 2010]
- Update: How Bad is Bad? It Used to Be $.45 on the Medical Insurance Dollar - April 20th, 2010 [April 20th, 2010]
- World’s Best “EMR” for $1000: Google Spreadsheets + iPad - April 21st, 2010 [April 21st, 2010]
- Don’t Insult Me with your “AOL Keyword” Strategy, Google Health - April 21st, 2010 [April 21st, 2010]
- How to Play LAWGAMES - April 23rd, 2010 [April 23rd, 2010]
- Top 4 Predatory Schemes Encroaching on American Medicine: Part 1 - April 25th, 2010 [April 25th, 2010]
- What’s the Big Deal About iPads? - April 27th, 2010 [April 27th, 2010]
- Got Google Android for Google I/O - April 27th, 2010 [April 27th, 2010]
- Google Enterprise meets HIPAA and HITECH Compliant Laws - April 29th, 2010 [April 29th, 2010]
- Pixels of Accuracy CHALENGE: Diagnostic Medical Imaging - April 29th, 2010 [April 29th, 2010]
- 23andMe Launder AlioGenetics Doesn’t Even Bother to Remove 23andMe Logo - April 30th, 2010 [April 30th, 2010]
- Anthem of CT Denies $600 Until “Subscriber Responds to our Coordination of Benefits Questionnaire” - May 1st, 2010 [May 1st, 2010]
- Apple And Google Team Up To Launch Revolutionary Mobile Health System - May 1st, 2010 [May 1st, 2010]
- Funny Pictures from This Year Building the Medical Practice - May 6th, 2010 [May 6th, 2010]
- Remote Medical Video Monitoring on iPad and iPhone - May 7th, 2010 [May 7th, 2010]
- Google Calendar Overhead Waiting Room Display - May 7th, 2010 [May 7th, 2010]
- Various Whiteboards on Solid State Medical Operations - May 7th, 2010 [May 7th, 2010]
- The Raw Facts about Counsyl - May 7th, 2010 [May 7th, 2010]
- Brawndo: Still Mutilating Thirst, Still Not Yet Sold at the Stop-n-Shop Pharmacy - May 9th, 2010 [May 9th, 2010]
- Video: Google Enterprise to Outsource Medical Administration - May 9th, 2010 [May 9th, 2010]
- Gattaca: “The Matrix” of Genomics - May 11th, 2010 [May 11th, 2010]
- 23andMe Now Diagnoses Fatal Tay-Sachs Disease - May 12th, 2010 [May 12th, 2010]
- Why Was Pathway Targeted for FDA Enforcement and Not 23andMe? - May 15th, 2010 [May 15th, 2010]
- John Dolan on Aging and the Horrifying Conclusion of GWAS - May 16th, 2010 [May 16th, 2010]
- Sam R. Riley Wants To Tell You About Practice Fusion - May 17th, 2010 [May 17th, 2010]
- Response to “Genomic Medicine: Lost” - May 19th, 2010 [May 19th, 2010]
- Death And Taxes: CMS to IRS - May 19th, 2010 [May 19th, 2010]
- Please Stop Antagonizing the AMA - May 26th, 2010 [May 26th, 2010]
- Dan Vorhaus, Attorney At Law, Legally Advises Medical Doctors Can Use 23andMe To Provide Medical Advice - May 28th, 2010 [May 28th, 2010]
- Singularity Summit 2010 in San Francisco to Explore Intelligence Augmentation - June 7th, 2010 [June 7th, 2010]
- OpenPCR: DNA amplification for anyone - June 10th, 2010 [June 10th, 2010]
- FDA sends letters to 5 genetic testing companies - June 11th, 2010 [June 11th, 2010]
- Amazon And The NIH Team Up To Put Human Genome In The Cloud - March 31st, 2012 [March 31st, 2012]
- ReproSource Comments on New Study Linking Infertility to Genetics - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Genetics 101 Part 1: What are genes? - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Red Ice Radio - David Icke - Hour 1 - The Manipulation of Humanity - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Genetics Part 5: Human Genetic Disorders - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- C2CAM - The Nephilim, Genetic Manipulation - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Human Nature talk with Robert Sapolsky, Gabor Mate, James Gilligan, Richard Wilkinson - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Human Genetic Diseases - Video - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Alien Scientist on Genetics, Implants - April 30th, 2012 [April 30th, 2012]
- Research and Markets: Genetics, 6th Edition International Student Version Continues To Educate Today's Students for ... - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Myriad Genetics to Present at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2012 Health Care Conference - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Genetics may explain some people's dislike of meat - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- 'Blond Genes' May Vary Around the World - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]