Individuality and Transgenerational Inheritance of Social Dominance and Sex Pheromones in Isogenic Male Mice.
Phenotypic variation and its epigenetic regulations within the inbred isogenic mice have long intrigued biologists. Here, we used inbred C57BL/6 mice to examine the individual differences and the inheritance of social dominance and male pheromones, expecting to create a model for studying the underlying epigenetic mechanisms for the evolution of these traits. We used a repeated male-male contest paradigm to form stable dominance-submission relationships between paired males and make superior or inferior quality manifest. Females showed olfactory preferences for the urine of dominant males to that of subordinate opponents. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometer analysis revealed that dominance-related or superior quality related pheromones were actually exaggerated male pheromone components (e.g., E-β-farnesene, hexadecanol, and 1-hexadecanol acetate) of preputial gland origin. Although the socially naïve sons of both dominant and subordinate males elicited the same female attraction when reaching adulthood, the former could dominated over the latter during undergoing the male-male competition and then gained more attraction of females. Our results demonstrated that social dominance or superior quality and the related pheromones were heritable and could be expressed through the interaction between aggression-related epigenotypes and male-male contests. It suggested that the evolution of sexually selected traits could be epigenetically determined and promoted through female mate choice. The epigenetic mechanisms driving the individual differences in behavior and male pheromones deserve further studies.
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|Department of College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Qi
Q
Fang
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yao-Hua
YH
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.|Department of College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yao-Long
YL
Shi
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jin-Hua
JH
Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jian-Xu
JX
Zhang
D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005233:Fatty Alcohols / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000652:urine; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology* / Q000652:urine; D012919:Social Behavior; D012930:Social Dominance
D005233:Fatty Alcohols; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D012724:Sex Attractants; C062671:beta-farnesene; C005031:cetyl alcohol