Premium
Wild opportunities with dedomestication genetics of rabbits
Author(s) -
Thulin CarlGustaf,
Alves Paulo C.,
Djan Mihajla,
Fontanesi Luca,
Peacock David
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
restoration ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1526-100X
pISSN - 1061-2971
DOI - 10.1111/rec.12510
Subject(s) - domestication , biology , fauna , evolutionary biology , allele , conservation genetics , genotype , adaptation (eye) , zoology , ecology , genetics , gene , microsatellite , neuroscience
After domestication, wild progenitors, such as the aurochs and the wild horse, became extinct. For the European rabbit, however, ancestral, domestic, and feral populations exist. During domestication of the rabbit, very few alleles have been fixed for selective traits, and thus, the ancestral genotypes have been preserved in lowered frequencies. This facilitates investigations on genetic processes involved in domestication as well as dedomestication, that is, where domestic strains are “rewilded.” The acquired knowledge may be useful in the search for genotypic, phenotypic, and, perhaps most importantly, ecotypic equivalents that could assist in the restoration of extinct fauna and its ecosystem functions. Such efforts could provide novel evolutionary trajectories useful in nature restoration, management, and conservation.