Social environment is associated with gene regulatory variation in the rhesus macaque immune system.

ABSTRACT: Variation in the social environment is a fundamental component of many vertebrate societies. In humans and other primates, adverse social environments often translate into lasting physiological costs. The biological mechanisms associated with these effects are therefore of great interest, both for understanding the evolutionary impacts of social behavior and in the context of human health. However, large gaps remain in our understanding of the mechanisms that mediate these effects at the molecular level. Here we addressed these questions by leveraging the power of an experimental system that consisted of 10 social groups of female macaques, in which each individual's social status (i.e., dominance rank) could be experimentally controlled. Using this paradigm, we show that dominance rank re

SUBMITTER: Tung J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3340061 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature