A new study on dogs found that chromatin's spatial structure has a significant role in the evolution of social behavior. Chromatin, the compact form of DNA, not only packages genetic material but also plays a crucial role in gene regulation. This study demonstrates that both the linear sequence of DNA and its three-dimensional configuration are linked to friendly behavior shaped by dog domestication, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying social traits.
Behavioral traits such as sociability are influenced by numerous genes, their interactions, environmental factors, and individual life experiences. Because the effect of a single gene is difficult to detect, it made headlines when in 2017, Dr. Bridgett vonHoldt, a professor at Princeton University, and her team identified specific elements in the GTF2I gene in dogs, linked to Williams-Beuren syndrome (WB) in humans, characterized by hypersociability, extreme friendliness, and craniofacial abnormalities.
The findings suggested that the selection for increased friendliness in dogs involved changes in the GTF2I gene. "This gene plays a role in neural development and pathways related to anxiety and sociability and is likely a key determinant of the friendly behavior shaped by domestication. In our current study, we aimed to investigate how genetic variants influence the 3D structure of the DNA containing this gene," says vonHoldt, lead author of the publication in BMC Genomics .
"The GTF2I gene has several.