Section “Population and Evolutionary Genetics/Genomics of Wild and Domestic Animals and Genetic Models of Experimental Domestication”

The application of whole-genome sequencing, omics technologies, and bioinformatics/molecular phylogeny methods makes it possible to investigate micro- and macroevolutionary processes in wild and domestic animals at molecular-genetic and physiological levels. Discussion of these topics—important for addressing fundamental evolutionary questions, applied problems in agriculture, and the conservation of animal biodiversity—will be organized around two thematic tracks.

1. “Population and evolutionary genetics/genomics of wild and domestic animals and models of experimental domestication.”
   Local breeds of farm animals represent an important genetic resource that can be used to improve commercial breeds, especially in the context of climate change and the emergence of new pathogens. A necessary prerequisite for the conservation and use of genetic resources from indigenous breeds is the study of their population structure and origins, as well as the identification of genomic regions shaped by natural or artificial selection. Although such studies are being actively conducted worldwide, local breeds in Russia remain largely unstudied in this respect.
   Within this track, a broad range of questions related to the study of wild and domestic animal populations will be considered, including genetic diversity, phylogenetics and phylogeography, detection of selection signatures, adaptation to extreme environmental factors, and convergent evolution at the level of nucleotide sequences and proteins.

2. “Models of experimental domestication of animals and destabilizing selection.”
   Within this track, a broad range of issues will be discussed concerning the genetic, neuroendocrine, and physiological mechanisms underlying destabilizing selection.
   In the famous experiments conducted by Academician D. K. Belyaev on wild silver-black foxes, selection for friendly behavior toward humans produced a unique population with stable tame behavior—i.e., the absence of aggression and fear of humans—calm, sociable animals whose behavior resembled that of domestic dogs. These experiments demonstrated that it is possible to compress a 15,000-year history of domestic animal evolution into a time span comparable to a human lifetime. Later, similar domestication experiments were successfully carried out on wild rats and minks.
   Domesticated animals of the studied species exhibited the same set of traits: a positive response to humans and very rapid, simultaneous changes across a wide range of phenotypic characteristics (biochemical, physiological, morphological, behavioral, etc.). Domestication was accompanied by pronounced changes in neuroendocrine mechanisms supporting brain and nervous system function, including the presence of differentially expressed genes in brain structures and strong differences in the levels of a number of neurotransmitters distinguishing domesticated animals from the wild type. In this context, the type of selection implemented in D. K. Belyaev’s experiments was termed destabilizing. Its main feature is an evident destabilization of central regulatory mechanisms governing development and organismal functioning. Destabilizing selection, discovered by D. K. Belyaev, is opposite in nature to stabilizing selection described by Academician I. I. Schmalhausen, in which, under constant environmental conditions, regulatory circuits are strengthened, preserving the population “average” phenotype while eliminating deviations from it.