<i>NOCT</i>, a potential domestication gene impacting circadian regulation and behavioral adaptation during dog domestication.

Overview

1. Bio-X Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and School of Life Science & School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650091, China
2. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Evolution & Animal Models, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650201, China
3. Kunming College of Life Science, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650204, China
4. Pu Er People’s Hospital, Puer, Yunnan 665000, China

Abstract

As the only carnivore domesticated by humans, the evolutionary transition of proto-domestic canids into human-associated niches remains a central unresolved question in domestication biology. Although prior work has emphasized behavioral transformations during domestication, the circadian shift from crepuscular activity in gray wolves to predominantly diurnal patterns in dogs has received comparatively little attention, despite its importance in synchronizing with human daily cycles. This study examined highly diverged loci linked to circadian system remodeling, a putative early domestication trait that likely preceded intentional human selection. Comparative genomic analyses identified NOCT as a candidate domestication gene, characterized by pronounced indel frequency divergence between gray wolves and dogs. Functional assays demonstrated that reduced NOCT expression disrupted circadian rhythmicity and was accompanied by increased myelin sheath formation in the prefrontal cortex. These neurophysiological alterations were associated with marked behavioral shifts, including extended exploratory locomotion, elevated fear and anxiety responses, and enhanced short-term memory. Collectively, these phenotypic outcomes provide empirical support for the self-domestication hypothesis and offer a mechanistic framework explaining how ancestral scavenging wolves gradually adapted to human-modified environments. Furthermore, these findings elucidate a previously underappreciated circadian-neurodevelopmental axis in canid domestication and advance understanding of the evolutionary processes that enabled the emergence of dogs as the only carnivore companion species for humans.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

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Data

Data links

• ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo, NCBI; found in the text, “Canid transcriptome analysis”
• ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra, NCBI; found in the text, “Sample collection”

Data availability

The transcriptome data generated in this study were deposited in the Genome Sequence Archive (GSA) at the China National Center for Bioinformation database (https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/gsa; accession number GSA: CRA028553), Science Data Bank (https://www.scidb.cn; DOI: 10.57760/sciencedb.j00139.00265), and NCBI Sequence Read Archive (https://submit.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/subs/sra; BioProjectID PRJNA1298411).

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

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Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 4 keywords, 8 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 76 references.

Cite

This paper

Xiao, J., Tu, X.-L., Yuan, W.-H., Song, Y.-W.-Z., Guo, Z.-F., Li, J., Li, J.-X., Luo, J., Zhang, Y.-P., & Li, Y. (2026). <i>NOCT</i>, a potential domestication gene impacting circadian regulation and behavioral adaptation during dog domestication. Zoological research, 47(2), 444-458. https://doi.org/10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2025.270

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