A review of MHC-based mate preferences and fostering experiments in two congenic strains of mice.
We review our studies of mate choice with two MHC-congenic strains of mice. This work was stimulated by findings from Yamazaki and colleagues showing that male mice exhibited mate preferences for females whose MHC-haplotype was different from their own, while female mice exhibited either no preference or a weak preference for males of a particular MHC-haplotype (see Beauchamp et al., 1988). Since these findings were unexpected (mate choice theory predicts that females will be more selective than males), we studied the preferences of mice from two additional MHC-congenic strains to assess the generality of the previous findings. Specifically, the goals of our research were: (1) to determine the mate preferences of congenic mice with MHC-haplotypes derived from wild populations, (2) to compare the mate preferences of male and female mice in a test situation where each sex has a clear opportunity to make a choice, and (3) to estimate effects of cross-fostering on each sex.
Arcaro
K F
KF
School of Public Health, Wadsworth Laboratories, Albany, NY 12201, USA.
Eklund
A
A
D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003307:Copulation / Q000502:physiology; D004542:Ejaculation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008285:Major Histocompatibility Complex / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D020297:Mice, Congenic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000523:psychology; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors