Question

Domestication of animals frequently results in predictable changes in physical traits that are not directly being selected for.

- examples include floppy ears, short/curly tails, white face markings, curly hair, etc.

In the fox farm experiment, these traits became more common in the tame fox population in as few as 10 generations.

Describe two genetic mechanisms that might explain why these traits are consistently more common in domesticated animals than their wild relatives.

Answer 1

1) Natural Selection-It is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in their phenotypes.It is a key mechanism of evolution ie. the change in the heritable traits of a population over generations. As there occurs genetic difference between domestic and wild populations over time and also in their traits this leads to changes in their phenotypes and more fixation of these traits in the domesticated populations.

2) Pleiotropy- An important cause for these broad changes in domesticated population is pleiotropy which occurs when one gene influences two or more seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits. so one gene will be responsible for more than 1 distinct phenotypes in the domesticated populations.