[Analysis of peripheral blood serotonin in domesticated silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as a major gene marker of domesticated behavior]. / Analiz serotonina perifericheskoi krovi serebristochernykh domestitsiruemykh lisits (Vulpes vulpes) kak maiorgennogo markera domestikatsionnogo povedeniia.

A segregation analysis of inheritance of the blood serotonin level in a domesticated silver fox population was performed (104 foxes from 4 pedigrees). The results of the analysis point to the effect of a major-gene in the control of this quantitative trait (dominance coefficient of lower level is 0.79), and suggest that breeding for domestic behavior is accompanied by selection against heterozygosity with respect to this major-gene. The lower blood serotonin level revealed in more domesticated foxes (p < 0.02) may be a consequence of this.

[Effect of a major gene in inheritance of the cortisol level in the peripheral blood of a domesticable population of foxes (Vulpes vulpes)]. / Effekt glavnogo gena v nasledovanii urovnia kortizola perifericheskoi krovi domestitsiruemoi populiatsii lisits (Vulpes vulpes).

Domestication of animals is known to be associated with hereditary changes in the pituitary-adrenal system which regulates most important stages of ontogenesis. Cortisol is one of the basic indices of activity of this system. A segregation analysis of inheritance of cortisol content in blood of domestic silver fox population was undertaken. The results of the analysis point to an effect of a major gene controlling this quantitative trait, and indicate that breeding for domestic behaviour is accompanied by selection of individuals homozygous with respect to recessive genes controlling the cortisol level.

[Methodological approach to genetic-selection analysis of social behavior of animals (Using as an example domestic behavior of the silver fox)]. / Metodologicheskii podkhod k genetiko-selektsionnomu analizu sotsial'nogo povedeniia zhivotnykh. (Na primere domestikatsionnogo povedenii serebristo-cherhykh lisits).

Social behaviour of animals, i.e. interspecies contacts, were studied in a population of silver foxes in the longitudinal model domestication experiment. Three social behaviour traits were analysed: contactibility, critical distance and domestication index. The latter trait is a linear function of elementary behaviour reactions, postures induced by man which is determined by the principal components method. The most valiable selection phenotype for further modelling of domestication, as shown by the capacity to adequately reflect a pattern of genotype--environment interaction, the structure of correlation ratios for different forms of behaviour and the level of genetic relationships between relatives, is the domestication index.

[The use of the method of principal components for phenogenetic analysis of the integral domestication trait]. / Primenenie metoda glavnykh komponent dlia fenogeneticheskogo analiza integral'nogo domestikatsionnogo priznaka.

In the course of long-term experiment on domestication of silver fox, it was necessary to determine the most important behavioral features, selection for which would give domestication effect. The mathematical method of principal components was used for the analysis of 20 fox behavior traits. The combination of the initial traits which reflected the structure of the integral trait, i.e. domesticated type of behavior, was determined. The practical use of this combination seems to more adequately estimate the level of domestication of a given animal, which is indispensable for subsequent effective selection.