Female behavior drives the formation of distinct social structures in C57BL/6J versus wild-derived outbred mice in field enclosures.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social behavior and social organization have major influences on individual health and fitness. Yet, biomedical research focuses on studying a few genotypes under impoverished social conditions. Understanding how lab conditions have modified social organizations of model organisms, such as lab mice, relative to natural populations is a missing link between socioecology and biomedical science.

Results

Using a common garden design, we describe the formation of social structure in the well-studied laboratory mouse strain, C57BL/6J, in replicated mixed-sex populations over 10-day trials compared to control trials with wild-derived outbred house mice in outdoor field enclosures. We focus on three key features of mouse social systems: (i) territory establishment in male

SUBMITTER: Vogt CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10865716 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature