As it turned out, it’s in the genes.
Researchers from the University of linköping (Sweden) have determined that the cause of friendly relations between man and the dog are the genes reported in the journal Science Reports.
The scientists said their goal was the elucidation of the genetic basis of domestication of the wolf, which has led to the emergence of its subspecies — dogs. In their research they used 437 dogs of the Beagle breed. Each animal was placed in a room with a man she didn’t know. Dogs were shown three of the plastic container containing the food, with one of them could open.
The dogs were given three minutes to get food. In most cases, the animals asked people for help by jumping on him or establishing eye contact. However, some beagles tried to open the locked container.
After scientists have chosen 95 dogs with the best and 95 worst social interaction. In animals, took DNA samples and identified gene variants were characterized for each of the two groups of dogs.
Based on these results, the researchers concluded that prone to dealing with a dog person, have two genomic region containing five genes associated with manual conduct. The scientists noted that four of them are related to human genes.
The researchers noted that the genetic contribution to friendly behavior is 30% (another factor may be, for example, education). It’s also possible that the sociability of dogs is influenced by tens or hundreds of unreported genes.
