Positive selection rather than relaxation of functional constraint drives the evolution of vision during chicken domestication.

ABSTRACT: As noted by Darwin, chickens have the greatest phenotypic diversity of all birds, but an interesting evolutionary difference between domestic chickens and their wild ancestor, the Red Junglefowl, is their comparatively weaker vision. Existing theories suggest that diminished visual prowess among domestic chickens reflect changes driven by the relaxation of functional constraints on vision, but the evidence identifying the underlying genetic mechanisms responsible for this change has not been definitively characterized. Here, a genome-wide analysis of the domestic chicken and Red Junglefowl genomes showed significant enrichment for positively selected genes involved in the development of vision. There were significant differences between domestic chickens and their wild ancestors regarding

SUBMITTER: Wang MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4856766 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature