Introgression and the fate of domesticated genes in a wild mammal population

A study on St Kilda reveals that introgression of domesticated genes into wild Soay sheep populations can drive rapid evolutionary changes. By analyzing 25 years of ecological data and high-throughput genotyping, researchers found that admixture with a modern sheep breed around 150 years ago introduced polymorphisms for coat color and pattern. These variants were subjected to natural selection, with the domesticated light coat color allele being favored while the self coat pattern allele reduced survival. This demonstrates that introgression can introduce novel genetic variation capable of significantly altering wild populations, providing insights into the evolutionary consequences of gene flow between domesticated and wild species.

Feulner, P. G. D., Gratten, J., Kijas, J. W., Visscher, P. M., Pemberton, J. M., & Slate, Jon. (2013). Introgression and the fate of domesticated genes in a wild mammal population. Molecular Ecology, 22(16), 4210–4221. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12378