Contrasting mode of evolution at a coat color locus in wild and domestic pigs.

ABSTRACT: Despite having only begun approximately 10,000 years ago, the process of domestication has resulted in a degree of phenotypic variation within individual species normally associated with much deeper evolutionary time scales. Though many variable traits found in domestic animals are the result of relatively recent human-mediated selection, uncertainty remains as to whether the modern ubiquity of long-standing variable traits such as coat color results from selection or drift, and whether the underlying alleles were present in the wild ancestor or appeared after domestication began. Here, through an investigation of sequence diversity at the porcine melanocortin receptor 1 (MC1R) locus, we provide evidence that wild and domestic pig (Sus scrofa) haplotypes from China and Europe are the resul

SUBMITTER: Fang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2613536 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature