Chimpanzee Personality and the Arginine Vasopressin Receptor 1A Genotype.
Polymorphisms of the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a) gene have been linked to various measures related to human social behavior, including sibling conflict and agreeableness. In chimpanzees, AVPR1a polymorphisms have been associated with traits important for social interactions, including sociability, joint attention, dominance, conscientiousness, and hierarchical personality dimensions named low alpha/stability, disinhibition, and negative emotionality/low dominance. We examined associations between AVPR1a and six personality domains and hierarchical personality dimensions in 129 chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) living in Japan or in a sanctuary in Guinea. We fit three linear and three animal models. The first model included genotype, the second included sex and genotype, and the third included genotype, sex, and sex × genotype. All personality phenotypes were heritable. Chimpanzees possessing the long form of the allele were higher in conscientiousness, but only in models that did not include the other predictors; however, additional analyses suggested that this may have been a consequence of study design. In animal models that included sex and sex × genotype, chimpanzees homozygous for the short form of the allele were higher in extraversion. Taken with the findings of previous studies of chimpanzees and humans, the findings related to conscientiousness suggest that AVPR1a may be related to lower levels of impulsive aggression. The direction of the association between AVPR1a genotype and extraversion ran counter to what one would expect if AVPR1a was related to social behaviors. These results help us further understand the genetic basis of personality in chimpanzees.
Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK.|Cognitive Ethology, German Primate Center, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Leibniz-ScienceCampus, Göttingen, Germany.
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Wilson
Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, UK. alex.weiss@ed.ac.uk.
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0000-0002-9125-1555
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Weiss
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
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Humle
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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Morimura
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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Udono
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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Idani
Institute for Advanced Study, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.|Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan.|Japan Monkey Centre, Inuyama, Japan.
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Matsuzawa
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
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Hirata
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.|National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
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Inoue-Murayama
D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001120:Arginine / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005838:Genotype; D023421:Models, Animal; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin / Q000235:genetics*; D012919:Social Behavior
D017483:Receptors, Vasopressin; D001120:Arginine
AVPR1a; Animal model; Chimpanzee; Heritability; Personality; Vasopressin