Major urinary protein (MUP) profiles show dynamic changes rather than individual 'barcode' signatures.

ABSTRACT: House mice (Mus musculus) produce a variable number of major urinary proteins (MUPs), and studies suggest that each individual produces a unique MUP profile that provides a distinctive odor signature controlling individual and kin recognition. This 'barcode hypothesis' requires that MUP urinary profiles show high individual variability within populations and also high individual consistency over time, but tests of these assumptions are lacking. We analyzed urinary MUP profiles of 66 wild-caught house mice from eight populations using isoelectric focusing. We found that MUP profiles of wild male house mice are not individually unique, and though they were highly variable, closer inspection revealed that the variation strongly depended on MUP band type. The prominent ('major) bands we

SUBMITTER: Thoß M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4783862 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature