Genetic mapping of escalated aggression in wild-derived mouse strain MSM/Ms: association with serotonin-related genes.

ABSTRACT: The Japanese wild-derived mouse strain MSM/Ms (MSM) retains a wide range of traits related to behavioral wildness, including high levels of emotionality and avoidance of humans. In this study, we observed that MSM showed a markedly higher level of aggression than the standard laboratory strain C57BL/6J. Whereas almost all MSM males showed high frequencies of attack bites and pursuit in the resident-intruder test, only a few C57BL/6J males showed aggressive behaviors, with these behaviors observed at only a low frequency. Sexually mature MSM males in their home cages killed their littermates, or sometimes female pair-mates. To study the genetic and neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the escalated aggression observed in MSM mice, we analyzed reciprocal F1 crosses and five consomic stra

SUBMITTER: Takahashi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4052355 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature