title: Candidate genes underlying heritable differences in reproductive seasonality between wild and domestic rabbits.
abstract: Reproductive seasonality is a trait that often differs between domestic animals and their wild ancestors, with domestic animals showing prolonged or even continuous breeding seasons. However, the genetic basis underlying this trait is still poorly understood for most species, and because environmental factors and resource availability are known to play an important role in determining breeding seasons, it is also not clear in most cases to what extent this phenotypic shift is determined by the more lenient captive conditions or by genetic factors. Here, using animals resulting from an initial cross between wild and domestic rabbits followed by two consecutive backcrosses (BC1 and BC2) to wild rabbits, we evaluated the yearly distribution of births for the different generations. Similar to domestic rabbits, F1 animals could be bred all year round but BC1 and BC2 animals showed a progressive and significant reduction in the span of the breeding season, providing experimental evidence that reduced seasonal breeding in domestic rabbits has a clear genetic component and is not a simple by-product of rearing conditions. We then took advantage of a recently published genome-wide scan of selection in the domesticated lineage and searched for candidate genes potentially associated with this phenotypic shift. Candidate genes located within regions targeted by selection include well-known examples of genes controlling clock functions (CRY1 and NR3C1) and reproduction (PRLR).
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia, Calle Oliva 3, 36202, Vigo, Spain.
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Piorno
authors.affiliation: Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Carl-Johan
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.|Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, CB2 3EH, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s⁄n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Nuno
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferrand
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal.|Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre s⁄n, 4169-007, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paulo C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: Science for Life Laboratory Uppsala, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.|Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.|Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA.
authors.forename: Leif
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andersson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000235:genetics; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000235:genetics; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D011817:Rabbits / Q000235:genetics*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics*; D012621:Seasons
keywords: circadian clock; domestication; hormonal control of reproduction; selective sweep; wild-domestic intercross