Variations in genome size between wild and domesticated lineages of fowls belonging to the Gallus gallus species

Efforts to elucidate the causes of biological differences between wild fowls and their domesticated relatives, the chicken, have to date mainly focused on the identification of single nucleotide mutations. Other types of genomic variations have however been demonstrated to be important in avian evolution and associated to variations in phenotype. They include several types of sequences duplicated in tandem that can vary in their repetition number. Here we report on genome size differences between the red jungle fowl and several domestic chicken breeds and selected lines. Sequences duplicated in tandem such as rDNA, telomere repeats, satellite DNA and segmental duplications were found to have been significantly re-shaped during domestication and subsequently by human-mediated selection. We discuss the extent to which changes in genome organization that occurred during domestication agree with the hypothesis that domesticated animal genomes have been shaped by evolutionary forces aiming to adapt them to anthropized environments. [Display omitted] •Genome size variations can be observed between wild fowls and domestic chicken breeds.•Genome size variations are not due to the activity of transposable elements.•Various kinds of tandem repeats are responsible for chicken genome size variations.•Centromeres, telomeres, rDNA and segmental duplications seat of these variations•The organization of tandem repeats has been changed during chicken domestication.