Variation in the vasopressin V1a receptor promoter and expression: implications for inter- and intraspecific variation in social behaviour.
Instability in highly repetitive microsatellite DNA located in the regulatory regions of genes may be a major factor producing diversity in both region-specific gene expression and the resulting phenotypes. Polymorphisms in promoter regions affecting expression of genes involved in regulating behaviour may play a role in generating individual variation in behaviour, including psychopathologies in humans, and probably are also important for the evolution of behaviour. Here we discuss the prairie vole vasopressin V1a receptor gene as a model that may be useful for understanding the evolution of promoter sequences and the relationship between gene sequence, expression and behavioural phenotype.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Elizabeth A D
EA
Hammock
Larry J
LJ
Young
D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012919:Social Behavior
D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin