That's So Last Season: Unraveling the Genomic Consequences of Fur Farming in Arctic Foxes ( <i>Vulpes lagopus</i> )

Humans have relied on animal fur for centuries, yet fur farming only began recently during the mid-19th Century. Little is known about this incipient domestication or the genomic processes involved. Domestication may involve founder effects, population bottlenecks and low population size, which, when combined with intense artificial selection, lead to inbreeding, a limited gene pool and reduced fitness. The arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) has been farmed intensively since the early 1900s and has been artificially selected for economic phenotypes. We investigated the origin of these lineages and the genomic consequences of intensive farming by comparing the genomes of farmed and wild arctic foxes from across their range. Our research indicates recent inbreeding through long Runs of Homozygosity and reduced genomic variation in farmed foxes relative to their respective wild populations. We identified a coastal ecotype origin for all Fennoscandian farmed arctic foxes, aligning them phylogenetically with the wild Icelandic population, a geographically isolated and phenotypically distinct coastal lineage. The depleted genome-wide heterozygosity and increased recent inbreeding in farmed fox lineages is consistent with a heavy consequence of domestication, shedding light on the demographic history and genomic consequences of human manipulation. We highlight the need for increased genomic investigations into fur farm populations to understand the incipient domestication process and uncover the cost of intense farming. The genomic consequences of domestication must be considered in the management of fur farms, with actionable steps needed to prevent descendants of escaped farmed foxes from polluting the gene pool in the wild through introgression.

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Publication Details

Journal
Molecular Ecology
Published
2025-11-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70166
Primary Topic
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

That's So Last Season: Unraveling the Genomic Consequences of Fur Farming in Arctic Foxes ( Vulpes lagopus )

Johan Wallén, Karin Norén, Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir, Paula A. White et al.
Molecular Ecology
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
article

That's So Last Season: Unraveling the Genomic Consequences of Fur Farming in Arctic Foxes ( Vulpes lagopus )

Johan Wallén, Karin Norén, Ester Rut Unnsteinsdóttir, Paula A. White, Arild Landa, Gunnel Björklund, Snæbjörn Pálsson, Nora Bergfeldt, Øystein Flagstad, Eva Fuglei, Gustaf Samelius, Christopher A. Cockerill, Dominique Berteaux, Ignas Bunikis, Malin Hasselgren, Nina E. Eide, Johanna von Seth, Anders Angerbjörn, Ray T. Alisauskas, Love Dalén, J. Camilo Chacón‐Duque, Remi‐André Olsen, Kristinn Pétur Magnússon
article en

Abstract

Humans have relied on animal fur for centuries, yet fur farming only began recently during the mid-19th Century. Little is known about this incipient domestication or the genomic processes involved. Domestication may involve founder effects, population bottlenecks and low population size, which, when combined with intense artificial selection, lead to inbreeding, a limited gene pool and reduced fitness. The arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) has been farmed intensively since the early 1900s and has been artificially selected for economic phenotypes. We investigated the origin of these lineages and the genomic consequences of intensive farming by comparing the genomes of farmed and wild arctic foxes from across their range. Our research indicates recent inbreeding through long Runs of Homozygosity and reduced genomic variation in farmed foxes relative to their respective wild populations. We identified a coastal ecotype origin for all Fennoscandian farmed arctic foxes, aligning them phylogenetically with the wild Icelandic population, a geographically isolated and phenotypically distinct coastal lineage. The depleted genome-wide heterozygosity and increased recent inbreeding in farmed fox lineages is consistent with a heavy consequence of domestication, shedding light on the demographic history and genomic consequences of human manipulation. We highlight the need for increased genomic investigations into fur farm populations to understand the incipient domestication process and uncover the cost of intense farming. The genomic consequences of domestication must be considered in the management of fur farms, with actionable steps needed to prevent descendants of escaped farmed foxes from polluting the gene pool in the wild through introgression.

Molecular EcologyVol. 34(24)
Uppsala University (SE), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Stockholm University (SE), University of Iceland (IS), Université du Québec à Rimouski (CA), Science for Life Laboratory (SE), Swedish Museum of Natural History (SE), University of Saskatchewan (CA), Náttúrufræðistofnun (IS), Sustainability Institute (ZA), Institute for Sustainability (GB), Centre for Palaeogenetics (SE), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NO), The FRAM Centre (NO), University of Akureyri (IS), Norwegian Polar Institute (NO)
ArcticNet, European Commission, Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Háskóli Íslands, Norges Forskningsråd, Science for Life Laboratory, Norsk Polarinstitutt, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science, Interreg, H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Openalex Percentile: Top 67%
Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
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