Gene analysis conducted by international researchers at the University of Montana revealed wild rabbits became domesticated as a result of natural gene adaptation.
Researchers discovered rabbit domestication became possible by genes that alter the brain's development as well as the nervous system. Domestication of most animals started around 9,000 to 15,000 years ago, when the first animals to be domesticated included cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and dogs. Wild rabbits, on the other hand, were first bred in monasteries in the Southern France around 1,400 years ago.
To gather data for their study, the team first made a sequence of the rabbit's genome and identified an assembly of a reference genome. After that, they made another genome sequence for six breeds of domesticated rabbits and wild rabbits. The rabbits used in the study came from 14 different locations over Southern France and the Iberian Peninsula.
"No previous study on animal domestication has involved such a careful examination of genetic variation in the wild ancestral species," Leif Andersson, a professor at Uppsala University, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Texas A&M University said. "This allowed us to pinpoint the genetic changes that have occurred during rabbit domestication."
The study determined which genes were altered during the domestication process of the wild rabbits.
Further analysis showed that before the wild rabbits became domesticated, they used to be polymorphic, possessing the ability to assume different forms in adulthood. However, compared to domestic rabbits, wild rabbits have a stronger flight response when threatened by predators such as foxes, hawks, eagles, and humans.
Further details of the study were published in the Aug. 30 issue of Science.
