How different are dogs in the evolution of their environment? A genetic study of the effect of single-letter changes in DNA sequences on a dog breeder’s behaviour

Is your dog scared by a bag in the wind? When a stranger comes to the door, does it bark, hide, or look for you? Does it chase squirrels?

As such studies continue to map the genetics underlying dog behaviour, one hope is that the results could inform research into neurodiversity and the biological basis for human behaviours, Boyko says. Human researchers can start generating hypotheses that would not have been possible in the past without this model.

Each of those unique histories left a mark on the genomes of specific breeds. Some breeds are heavily influenced by one particular male that did well in a dog show and had its sperm frozen and widely distributed. Others might have been influenced in a different way: for example, the populations of some large dog breeds decreased dramatically during times of war or famine, when there was not enough food to feed them. Breeders sometimes mix different breeds to restore characteristics lost to the population.

A lot of variations linked to the development of the nervous system were identified by an analysis of a number of genes. For example, variations that are common in sheepdogs pinpointed a pathway that formed connections between nerve cells. Previous studies have shown a link between two genes involved in this pathway and behaviour in which female mice gather their pups tightly together, suggesting that herding could have evolutionary roots in maternal actions to protect offspring.

This study focused on small changes in DNA sequences, such as single-letter changes and small deletions or insertions of DNA. Adam Boyko, a canine geneticist at Cornell University, believes future studies may look at other forms of genetic variation.

Given that dogs and humans often share a home, such studies could be useful in understanding how environment shapes disease risk. If you look at the whole spectrum of animal evolution, dogs and humans are probably more similar to each other than they are different. “We can totally understand each other for most things.”

The results are an exciting advance in understanding the relationships between dog lineages, says geneticist Elinor Karlsson at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester.

Artemis II Data Retrieval for Female Athletes: a Disparity in the Diversity of the Orion Data Base

A set of flight computers on board Orion will now need to be retrieved, analysed and approved before they can be installed in the capsule that will fly on Artemis II — a crucial step that will take time. Engineers are going to be collecting data from scientific sensors that will give them information about the safety of the Artemis II capsule. The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, has a flight director named Emily Nelson who is excited to unpack all of the information that was gained from this mission.

In the past few years, the proportion of studies that focus on women or girls and include both male and female athletes is gradually increasing.

The authors say the disparity could be due to several factors, from financial incentives to the availability of data in public databases and an over-representation of male researchers in the field.