Converging roles of glutamate receptors in domestication and prosociality

Abstract

The present paper highlights the prevalence of signals of positive selection on genes coding for glutamate receptors--most notably kainate and metabotropic receptors--in domesticated animals and anatomically modern humans. Relying on their expression in the central nervous system and phenotypes associated with mutations in these genes, we claim that regulatory changes in kainate and metabotropic receptor genes have led to alterations in limbic function and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis regulation, with potential implications for the emergence of unique social behaviors and communicative abilities in (self-)domesticated species.