Petrelli, Simona (2020) Ritorno al selvatico, quando gli animali domestici ritornano in natura ed evolvono. [Tesi di dottorato]

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The process of domesticating animals was started by human populations in the Near East and over time spread across Europe, where local wild populations were used. Domestication is an intriguing evolutionary process, which principally involves artificial selection; however, when domesticated animals return to the wild, natural selection can once again act to select adaptations for these new environments. Generally, feral animals evolve into something quite different from their wild predecessors, with a combination of both some wild and artificially selected traits. Feralisation itself can occur in several different forms, Endoferal animals are those with a single domesticated lineage, whilst exoferal populations are formed via admixture from multiple wild or domestic lineages. In order to deep the knowledge about the intriguing evolutionary trajectories, using Sus scrofa as model species, I characterised the genetic profile of endoferal and exoferal populations using a multidisciplinary wide-scale genome approach (PorcineSNP60). To assess a relevant phenotype that is under selection in feral populations, olfactory gene expression was analysed in these populations and also their ecology (diet and gut microbiota). The results show that exoferalisation and endoferalisation are two different trajectories. In endoferal pigs there is a recovery of olfactory capacities, causing a downstream effect in their ability to search for food and in the reprogramming of their gut microbial community.

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