Evidence Of Selection Research Articles

Positive selection and gene duplications in tumour suppressor genes reveal clues about how cetaceans resist cancer.

Cetaceans are the longest-living species of mammals and the largest in the history of the planet. They have developed mechanisms against diseases such cancer, although the underlying molecular bases of these remain unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of natural selection in the evolution of 1077 tumour suppressor genes (TSGs) in cetaceans. We used a comparative genomic approach to analyse two sources of molecular variation in the form of dN/dS rates and gene copy number variation. We found a signal of positive selection in the ancestor of cetaceans within the CXCR2 gene, an important regulator of DNA damage, tumour dissemination and immune system. Further, in the ancestor of baleen whales, we found six genes exhibiting positive selection relating to diseases such as breast carcinoma, lung neoplasm (ADAMTS8) and leukaemia (ANXA1). The TSGs turnover rate (gene gain and loss) was almost 2.4-fold higher in cetaceans when compared with other mammals, and notably even faster in baleen whales. The molecular variants in TSGs found in baleen whales, combined with the faster gene turnover rate, could have favoured the evolution of their particular traits of anti-cancer resistance, gigantism and longevity. Additionally, we report 71 genes with duplications, of which 11 genes are linked to longevity (e.g. NOTCH3 and SIK1) and are important regulators of senescence, cell proliferation and metabolism. Overall, these results provide evolutionary evidence that natural selection in TSGs could act on species with large body sizes and extended lifespan, providing novel insights into the genetic basis of disease resistance.

How can learners explain phenomena in ecology using evolutionary evidence from informal learning environments as resources?

ABSTRACT The theory of evolution can be a useful basis for developing students’ understanding of ecology. Our study used concept maps to examine the development of sixth-grade students’ understanding of the Antarctic ecosystem following several evolution ‘Science Days’ conducted at ‘Nature Campus’ – an informal learning environment comprised of a natural history museum, zoological and botanical gardens. The programme included physical experiences, such as observations and measurements of fossils, skeletons and mounted specimens, and observations in the zoological and botanical gardens. After the first and fourth days, the students watched the film ‘March of the Penguins,’ and were asked to draw concept maps depicting the penguins’ lives. These maps were then analysed to assess: (a) the changes in the students’ depictions of the ecosystem’s complexity, and (b) the manner and extent to which they used ideas and concepts in evolution to explain phenomena in the Antarctic ecosystem. We found that the students’ concept maps increased in complexity, and their post-maps incorporated concepts in evolution from their experiences at Nature Campus. Our results therefore emphasise the benefits of fundamentally changing how biology education is divided and defined, and transitioning to a more holistic approach that acknowledges the interdisciplinary nature of biological phenomena.

A new orthophlebiid scorpionfly (Insecta, Orthophlebiidae) from the Late Jurassic Linglongta biota of northern China

ABSTRACT The scorpionfly genus Longiphlebia, with a sole species, is confined to the Middle-Late Jurassic Daohugou biota. Herein, we describe and figure the second species, Longiphlebia incompleta sp. nov., based on one specimen collected from the Upper Jurassic Tiaojishan Formation at Zhuanshanzi, near Nanshimen Village, Gangou Township, Qinglong County, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province. It is a new representative insect belonging to the late assemblage of Yanliao biota. Our discovery indicates new evolutionary evidence between the early and late assemblages of the Yanliao biota.

Similarity and genetic relationship analysis of 28 species of Pangasiidae (Siluriformes, Ostariophysi)

Pangasiid catfishes have most diverse morphotype among members in the family. In the past, misidentification often occurred for the species definition. After numerical taxonomy developed, the level of similarity or phenetic analysis was used to distinguish different taxa. While relationship and evolutionary evidence within species in Pangasiidae was analyzed based on the genetic data. The aim of the present study was to understand the congruency between phenetic and genetic analysis in family Pangasiidae. Euclidean distance was applied on phenetic analysis to produce phenogram of similarity. Sequencing of 12s rDNA was conducted to illustrate the genetic relationship. Both analyses showed that species member in Pangasiidae supported the genera proposed in the previous study. Four genera are in Pangasiiidae. The both analysis also support to the hypothesis of geological history, palaentology and models of other family in the observed area. The results confirmed that Pangasiidae may occurred 20 million years ago before separation of the islands with the mainland Asia.

Granick revisited: Synthesizing evolutionary and ecological evidence for the late origin of bacteriochlorophyll via ghost lineages and horizontal gene transfer.

Photosynthesis-both oxygenic and more ancient anoxygenic forms-has fueled the bulk of primary productivity on Earth since it first evolved more than 3.4 billion years ago. However, the early evolutionary history of photosynthesis has been challenging to interpret due to the sparse, scattered distribution of metabolic pathways associated with photosynthesis, long timescales of evolution, and poor sampling of the true environmental diversity of photosynthetic bacteria. Here, we reconsider longstanding hypotheses for the evolutionary history of phototrophy by leveraging recent advances in metagenomic sequencing and phylogenetics to analyze relationships among phototrophic organisms and components of their photosynthesis pathways, including reaction centers and individual proteins and complexes involved in the multi-step synthesis of (bacterio)-chlorophyll pigments. We demonstrate that components of the photosynthetic apparatus have undergone extensive, independent histories of horizontal gene transfer. This suggests an evolutionary mode by which modular components of phototrophy are exchanged between diverse taxa in a piecemeal process that has led to biochemical innovation. We hypothesize that the evolution of extant anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria has been spurred by ecological competition and restricted niches following the evolution of oxygenic Cyanobacteria and the accumulation of O2 in the atmosphere, leading to the relatively late evolution of bacteriochlorophyll pigments and the radiation of diverse crown group anoxygenic phototrophs. This hypothesis expands on the classic "Granick hypothesis" for the stepwise evolution of biochemical pathways, synthesizing recent expansion in our understanding of the diversity of phototrophic organisms as well as their evolving ecological context through Earth history.

Pain, Suffering, and Euthanasia in Insects

While unnecessarily killing or injuring an insect is arguably wrong, euthanasia of an accidentally injured insect raises anew issues of whether insects can experience pain. The question takes renewed significance due to increasing insect farming for food and feed and concerns over farmed insect welfare. For euthanasia of a damaged insect to be justifiable, the damage must be sensed as a noxious stimulus (nociception) that the insect consciously experiences as pain. This pain must then lead to suffering or frustrated desire, with the possibility of the animal preferring death to continued existence. A failure at any of these points would deem euthanasia moot. The neurological, behavioral, and evolutionary evidence so far suggests the concept of euthanasia does not apply to insects.

The Informational Affective Tie Mechanism: On the Role of Uncertainty, Context, and Attention in Caring

This paper proposes and applies a formal theoretical model of an automatic (prosocial and antisocial) caring mechanism: the informational affective tie mechanism (iATM) model. Novel in the formalization is the factoring in of information extraction concerning the behavioral type of agents interacted with, jointly with the contexts of these interactions and the attention they attract. Empirical support comes from five very different data sources: experimental findings, econometric results, model-based brain scanning (fMRI) findings, additional neurobiological evidence, and translational and evolutionary evidence. Applications address: the impact of time pressure and cognitive load; the endogeneity of different behavioral response patterns (like tit-for-tat); social preference drift and tipping points in collective action; why behavioral survey questions can be problematic; spread of caring through affective networks, an uncertainty-based link between social-, risk- and time-preferences; happiness and identity; and, the neglected political economic role of communities (next to centralized authorities and markets). The endogeneity of caring preferences sharply contrasts with the standard assumption in economic theory of stable (mostly selfish) preferences. Moreover, the provision of a neurobiological underpinning moves the iATM model away from the standard as-if approach towards an as-is approach. Although the focus is on humans, some attention will be paid also to the model’s relevance for studying other species.

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS (SARS-COV-2): MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, PATHOGENESIS, PATHOBIOLOGY AND ADVANCES IN TREATMENT OF COVID-19 PATIENTS– AN UPDATE

The novel coronavirus (CoV), earlier named 2019-nCoV, and later as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus - 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now created havoc and panic across the globe by its severe ongoing pandemic. This virus has to date as of 23rd November 2020, killed nearly 1.4 million persons out of more than 59 million confirmed positive cases, while spreading rapidly in more than 215 countries and territories. Taxonomically, SARS-CoV-2 has been characterized in genus Betacoronavirus, which contains non-segmented positive-sense, single-stranded (ss) RNA genome of 30 kb. The first two open reading frames (ORFs), ORF1a and ORF1b, of SARS-CoV-2, encode 16 non-structural proteins (nsp1-nsp16), whereas other ORFs encodes four main structural proteins (sp) [spike (s) by ORF2, envelope (E) by ORF4, membrane (M) by ORF5, nucleoprotein (N) by ORF9], and accessory proteins essential for the virus fitness, pathogenesis and host immunity evasion. Sequence alignments of SARS-CoV-2 with genomes of various coronaviruses showed 58% identity in the non-structural protein (nsp)-coding region, 43% with the structural protein (sp)-coding region and 54% with the whole genome. The full-length genome sequence of the 2019-nCoV sample showed only up to 79.60% similarity with SARS CoV, but up to 96% similarity with bat coronavirus (bat coronavirus RaTG13). This gives strong evidence that 2019-nCoV has originated from the bat. The genomic and evolutionary evidence of another coronavirus species from pangolins also show higher similarity to SARS-CoV at the whole-genome level. Apart from RaTG13, Pangolin-CoV is the most closely related CoV to SARS-CoV-2. During infection, the viral S protein interacts with the receptor protein of the human cell membrane, known as angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2). Presently, SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and drugs are not available, for which researchers are trying hard to develop to tackle rising tide of COVID-19- pandemic. Early diagnosis, contact tracing, strict prevention and control measures, biosecurity, personal biosafety, disinfection and sanitization practices, social distancing are aiding in prevention with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Boosting immunity by intaking the balanced and nutritious food, nutraceuticals, herbs, and following physical exercises along with avoiding stress conditions enhance the fighting power of the body against SARS-CoV-2 infection and limiting the severity of COVID-19. The present article describes salient knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 structure, genomic organization, pathogenesis, pathobiology, and advances and progress being made to treat COVID-19 patients.

Molecular Memories of a Cambrian Fossil.

Evolutionary evidence is important scientific background for appreciating the theory of evolution. We describe a STEAM-based lesson plan that uses paleontological drawings and a modern evolutionary database to explore and understand fossil, morphological, and molecular evidence. Together, with a focus on arthropods and the Cambrian explosion, students experience a heuristic process common in scientific reasoning, guiding them toward practices that synthesize knowledge and invite questioning in the life sciences.

Pollen morphology and infrageneric classification of selected Callicarpa species (Lamiaceae) from the Philippines and Borneo

Abstract. Danila JS, Alejandro GJD. 2020. Pollen morphology and infrageneric classification of selected Callicarpa species (Lamiaceae) from the Philippines and Borneo. Biodiversitas 21: 5736-5746. We used pollen grains of ten species representing the controversial genera Geunsia Blume and Callicarpa L. from the key centers of Malesia - Philippines, and Borneo including other countries in Asia. Herbarium specimens and collected samples from the field were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in search of new characters to establish conclusive evidence that might contribute to the study of the relationship between Geunsia and Callicarpa. Based on SEM observations, both the investigated pollen grains of Geunsia and Callicarpa are mostly small to medium, spheroidal or circular, prolate to oblate, isopolar, and tricolpate. Moreover, the exine surface is mostly coarsely reticulated with a thin perforated colpus edge and sunken finely granulated colpus membrane. However, exine ornamentation shows possible separation of Geunsia and Callicarpa due to various morphological results observed. Several types of exine ornamentation were found in species of the section Callicarpa, i.e., C. erioclona, C. arborea, C. macrophylla, and C. candicans which attributes in the projected separation of these species while four species in the section Geunsia are united as a group having coarsely reticulate exine. Surprisingly, C. arborea samples give additional support to the hypothesis that rugulate exine sculpture might be its plesiomorphic character due to evolutionary evidence of other exine types of this species. On the other hand, pollen size and shape class of the sections of Geunsia and Callicarpa were both observed with similar features having an average pollen size equivalent to medium and a prolate shape supporting the concept of previous studies to nest Geunsia within Callicarpa. This reveals that pollen morphology is useful in the study of infrageneric classification within these groups. However, further morphological studies involving larger number of specimens are needed especially in the study of exine to prove its consistency as diagnostic character in the study of phylogenetic relationship.

A content analysis of pre-college lesson plans on human evolution

One of the most fundamental understandings within biology is evolution, yet often ascribed as one of the most misunderstood scientific concepts by the American public. Despite not being explicitly mentioned in most American science standards, human evolution is nevertheless taught as an engaging context for understanding complex evolutionary processes among pre-college science students. Therefore, pre-college science teachers seek out human evolution content experts (e.g., Smithsonian Institution, NOVA, ENSI) to procure curricula (lesson plans) to teach these concepts in their classrooms. For students to accurately understand human evolution, research recommends lesson plans employ a diversity of direct and indirect evolutionary evidence, infused with social science perspectives related to the nature of science (NOS) and/or socioscientific issues (SSI) to foster necessary conceptual change. Given such empirical affordances of using multiple sources of evidence and integrated social science perspectives to foster conceptual change in teaching human evolution, it is unknown to what extent these attributes are present in lesson plans created by these entities and targeted to pre-college science teachers. To ascertain to what extent pre-college lesson plans on human evolution employ these research-based best practices, this paper analyzed 86 lesson plans created by 18 entities with content expertise in human evolution concepts that had developed online pre-college lesson plans. Among the sampled lesson plans, less than one third (29%) presented a combination of direct and indirect evidence. Further, a mere 17% incorporated elements of NOS, where SSI (like historical (n = 3) and racial (n = 1)) perspectives were fewer. In sum, findings suggest available resources are deficient in fostering the conceptual change necessary for pre-college students to fully understand human evolution concepts. This study evidences a continued need to ensure best practices are incorporated into human evolution lesson plans created for pre-college teachers.

TOPICS ON MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF THE NOVEL CORONAVIRUS SPECIES SARS-CoV-2

Since December 2019, a new coronavirus species named SARS-CoV-2 has been related to thousands of cases of severe respiratory disease worldwide, been considered a public health issue. Molecular comparisons between isolates from SARS-CoV-2 and other coronavirus species showed identity levels around 79% with the human strain SARS-CoV. However, sequence homology analysis showed that the most closely related known viruses with SARS-CoV-2 are two bat SL-CoVs (~89%), revealing similar evolutionary relationships and evidences that bats can act as reservoirs of SARS-CoV-2. Despite this, viral RNA has been detected in two dogs and two cats belonging to SARS-CoV-2 infected owners, in Hong Kong and Belgium, and in one tiger maintained at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. Additionally, ferrets and cats are found to be highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 in an experiment carried out in a controlled environment. However, there is no evidence of these animals acting as reservoirs of the virus. Despite the high genetic identity found among SARS-CoV-2 strains, mutations have been identified, mostly in the structural protein S gene, but until now, there is no enough evidence to relate specific mutation in the viral genome to a higher number of infected patients or death.

Alignment of Cell Lineage Trees Elucidates Genetic Programs for the Development and Evolution of Cell Types

SummaryA full understanding of the developmental process requires fine-scale characterization of cell divisions and cell types, which are naturally organized as the developmental cell lineage tree (CLT). Technological breakthroughs facilitated determination of more CLTs, but complete comprehension of the data remains difficult without quantitative comparison among CLTs. We hereby quantified phenotypic similarity between CLTs using a novel computational method that exhaustively searches for optimal correspondence between individual cells meanwhile retaining their topological relationships. The revealed CLT similarities allowed us to infer functional similarity at the transcriptome level, identify cell fate transformations, predict functional relationships between mutants, and find evolutionary correspondence between cell types of different species. By allowing quantitative comparison between CLTs, our work is expected to greatly enhance the interpretability of relevant data and help answer the myriad of questions surrounding the developmental process.

Guanylate-binding proteins convert cytosolic bacteria into caspase-4 signaling platforms.

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide triggers human caspase-4 (murine caspase-11) to cleave gasdermin-D and induce pyroptotic cell death. How lipopolysaccharide sequestered in membranes of cytosol-invading bacteria activates caspases remains unknown. Here we show that in interferon-γ stimulated cells guanylate binding proteins (GBPs) assemble on the surface of Gram-negative bacteria into polyvalent signaling platforms required for activation of caspase-4. Caspase-4 activation is hierarchically controlled by GBPs; GBP1 initiates platform assembly, GBP2 and GBP4 control caspase-4 recruitment, whereas GBP3 governs caspase-4 activation. In response to cytosol-invading bacteria, activation of caspase-4 through the GBP platform is essential to induce gasdermin-D dependent pyroptosis and processing of interleukin-18, thereby destroying the replicative niche for intracellular bacteria and alerting neighboring cells, respectively. Caspase-11 and GBPs epistatically protect mice against lethal bacterial challenge. Multiple antagonists of the pathway encoded by Shigella flexneri, a cytosol-adapted bacterium, provide compelling evolutionary evidence for the importance of the GBP-Caspase-4 pathway in anti-bacterial defense.

Convergent Loss of an EDS1/PAD4 Signaling Pathway in Several Plant Lineages Reveals Coevolved Components of Plant Immunity and Drought Response.

Plant innate immunity relies on nucleotide binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) that recognize pathogen-derived molecules and activate downstream signaling pathways. We analyzed the variation in NLR gene copy number and identified plants with a low number of NLR genes relative to sister species. We specifically focused on four plants from two distinct lineages, one monocot lineage (Alismatales) and one eudicot lineage (Lentibulariaceae). In these lineages, the loss of NLR genes coincides with loss of the well-known downstream immune signaling complex ENHANCED DISEASE SUSCEPTIBILITY 1 (EDS1)/PHYTOALEXIN DEFICIENT 4 (PAD4). We expanded our analysis across whole proteomes and found that other characterized immune genes were absent only in Lentibulariaceae and Alismatales. Additionally, we identified genes of unknown function that were convergently lost together with EDS1/PAD4 in five plant species. Gene expression analyses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and Oryza sativa revealed that several homologs of the candidates are differentially expressed during pathogen infection, drought, and abscisic acid treatment. Our analysis provides evolutionary evidence for the rewiring of plant immunity in some plant lineages, as well as the coevolution of the EDS1/PAD4 pathway and drought responses.

Darwin meets Aristotle: evolutionary evidence for three fundamental virtues

ABSTRACT This article suggests three domains of virtues should be considered ‘fundamental’: the moral, self-regulatory, and intellectual. The concept of a fundamental virtue domain is introduced to clarify issues in the virtue literature surrounding the cross-cultural universality of virtue concepts. Fundamental virtue domains are defined as directly and clearly reflecting behavioral tendencies that contribute substantially to survival and flourishing, without implying ubiquity or cultural essentialism. Evidence for this case is drawn from comparative evolution suggesting cross-species adaptations serving similar functions to the virtue domains, some of which may underpin the human potential to act virtuously. The virtue domains also remain valued, with variations, even across dramatic cultural shifts. The concept of fundamental virtues is then used to provide a distinctive rationale for the Aristotelian concept of the reciprocity of the virtues. The implications of this reciprocity argument for character education and for understanding certain current social conflicts are also discussed.

Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the COVID-19 Outbreak.

An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) began in the city of Wuhan in China and has widely spread worldwide. Currently, it is vital to explore potential intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2 to control COVID-19 spread. Therefore, we reinvestigated published data from pangolin lung samples from which SARS-CoV-like CoVs were detected by Liu et al. [1]. We found genomic and evolutionary evidence of the occurrence of a SARS-CoV-2-like CoV (named Pangolin-CoV) in dead Malayan pangolins. Pangolin-CoV is 91.02% and 90.55% identical to SARS-CoV-2 and BatCoV RaTG13, respectively, at the whole-genome level. Aside from RaTG13, Pangolin-CoV is the most closely related CoV to SARS-CoV-2. The S1 protein of Pangolin-CoV is much more closely related to SARS-CoV-2 than to RaTG13. Five key amino acid residues involved in the interaction with human ACE2 are completely consistent between Pangolin-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, but four amino acid mutations are present in RaTG13. Both Pangolin-CoV and RaTG13 lost the putative furin recognition sequence motif at S1/S2 cleavage site that can be observed in the SARS-CoV-2. Conclusively, this study suggests that pangolin species are a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2-like CoVs.

Probable Pangolin Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Associated with the COVID-19 Outbreak.

SummaryAn outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) began in the city of Wuhan in China and has widely spread worldwide. Currently, it is vital to explore potential intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2 to control COVID-19 spread. Therefore, we reinvestigated published data from pangolin lung samples from which SARS-CoV-like CoVs were detected by Liu et al. [1]. We found genomic and evolutionary evidence of the occurrence of a SARS-CoV-2-like CoV (named Pangolin-CoV) in dead Malayan pangolins. Pangolin-CoV is 91.02% and 90.55% identical to SARS-CoV-2 and BatCoV RaTG13, respectively, at the whole-genome level. Aside from RaTG13, Pangolin-CoV is the most closely related CoV to SARS-CoV-2. The S1 protein of Pangolin-CoV is much more closely related to SARS-CoV-2 than to RaTG13. Five key amino acid residues involved in the interaction with human ACE2 are completely consistent between Pangolin-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, but four amino acid mutations are present in RaTG13. Both Pangolin-CoV and RaTG13 lost the putative furin recognition sequence motif at S1/S2 cleavage site that can be observed in the SARS-CoV-2. Conclusively, this study suggests that pangolin species are a natural reservoir of SARS-CoV-2-like CoVs.

Does sediment composition sort kinorhynch communities? An ecomorphological approach through geometric morphometrics

Ecomorphology studies the relationship between organisms’ morphology and environment features. To better understand whether the shape of the body and the appendages involved in the movement is correlated to sediment composition in meiofaunal organisms, we study the evolved morphological adaptations to environment in selected taxa of the phylum Kinorhyncha: the allomalorhagid families Dracoderidae and Pycnophyidae, and the cyclorhagid genus Echinoderes. The selected taxa include the most diverse groups of Kinorhyncha worldwide, representing the 75.5% of the total phylum diversity. Widened, plump bodies and lateral terminal spines may be adaptive for species living in coarse, more heterogeneous sediments, as they could maintain a more powerful musculature to actively displace the sediment grains applying a greater force. Conversely, slender, vermiform bodies and lateral terminal spines would represent an adaptation of species inhabiting fine, more homogeneous sediments where there would not be much need to exert a high force to displace the sediment particles, and a more vermiform shape would even favour the burrowing of the animal through the smaller interstices. The studied kinorhynch taxa would also be adapted to the higher velocity of the sea-water and the intense erosion and transportation of heterogeneous sediments by possessing more robust bodies, avoiding getting laid off substratum under these conditions. These findings provide evolutionary evidence that body shape in the studied kinorhynch groups is adapted to environment.

A Rat Model of Human Behavior Provides Evidence of Natural Selection Against Underexpression of Aggressiveness-Related Genes in Humans

Aggressiveness is a hereditary behavioral pattern that forms a social hierarchy and affects the individual social rank and accordingly quality and duration of life. Thus, genome-wide studies of human aggressiveness are important. Nonetheless, the aggressiveness-related genome-wide studies have been conducted on animals rather than humans. Recently, in our genome-wide study, we uncovered natural selection against underexpression of human aggressiveness-related genes and proved it using F1 hybrid mice. Simultaneously, this natural selection equally supports two opposing traits in humans (dominance and subordination) as if self-domestication could have happened with its disruptive natural selection. Because there is still not enough scientific evidence that this could happen, here, we verified this natural selection pattern using quantitative PCR and two outbred rat lines (70 generations of artificial selection for aggressiveness or tameness, hereinafter: domestication). We chose seven genes—Cacna2d3, Gad2, Gria2, Mapk1, Nos1, Pomc, and Syn1—over- or underexpression of which corresponds to aggressive or domesticated behavior (in humans or mice) that has the same direction as natural selection. Comparing aggressive male rats with domesticated ones, we found that these genes are overexpressed statistically significantly in the hypothalamus (as a universal behavior regulator), not in the periaqueductal gray, where there was no aggressiveness-related expression of the genes in males. Database STRING showed statistically significant associations of the human genes homologous to these rat genes with long-term depression, circadian entrainment, Alzheimer’s disease, and the central nervous system disorders during chronic IL-6 overexpression. This finding more likely supports positive perspectives of further studies on self-domestication syndromes.