The Y chromosome, social signals, and offense in mice.
Offense is one type of aggression in mice (Mus musculus/Mus domesticus). Offense was measured in a panel of testers design for two congenic strains of mice. The two congenic strains were DBA1Bg and DBA1. C57BL10-YBg. These differ in the Y chromosome. Offense was measured for the following dyadic pairs: Group 1 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1 opponent); Group 2 (DBA1 tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); Group 3 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1.C57BL10-Y opponent); and Group 4 (DBA1.C57BL10-Y tested against a DBA1 opponent). Group 1 was more aggressive than Group 3, whereas Group 2 was no more aggressive than Group 4. Thus, when the experimental and opponent pairs have the same Y chromosome, the congenics differ in offense, whereas when the experimental and opponent pairs have different Y chromosomes, the congenics do not differ in offense. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that these Y chromosomes affect the display of and response to social or other stimuli for offense of mice. These stimuli may be individual recognition chemosignals in urine.
Maxson
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SC
Behavioral Genetics Laboratory, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06268.
Didier-Erickson
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A
Ogawa
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D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology*; D000378:Agonistic Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D012931:Social Environment; D013045:Species Specificity; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000502:physiology*