Editorial: Early Domestication and Artificial Selection of Animals

The domestication of several key farm animals during the early Holocene initiated the transition from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to food production. Early domestication started by the recognition of biological characteristics in animals that would benefit human demands. Since their initial domestication, animals have been translocated worldwide and selected intensively, which has resulted in substantial genomic adaption of various traits such as tameness, growth, reproduction, etc.
Beyond the general interest in animal domestication, numerous important genetic loci selected by humans have been detected. These researches contribute to a better understanding of early domestication and subsequent artificial selection. However, the primary selective signals of domestication have been lost by migration and introgression of domesticated and wild animals.
In this research topic we cover genetic signals associated with early domestication. Moreover, we cover several aspects of human driven selection basis of the phenotypic differentiation and environmental adaptation and the effect of artificial selection on domestic animals.