New & Events
"A
Genomic View of Animal Behavior"
By integrating studies in genomics, neuroscience,
and evolution, researchers are beginning to reveal some of the
mysteries of animal behavior |
by:
Elizabeth Pennisi
Why a dog--or a human for that matter--cuddles up with one individual but growls
at another is one of life's great mysteries, one of the myriad quirks of behavior
that has fascinated and frustrated scientists for centuries. Here's another:
are we hard-wired to tend our young or culturally indoctrinated to have family
values?
It's no surprise that such mysteries remain unsolved. They are rooted in complex
interactions between multiple genes and the environment, and the tools to tackle
them have largely been unavailable until recently. But behavioral researchers
are beginning to apply techniques that are transforming other areas of biology.
They are using microarrays--which can track hundreds or thousands genes at once--to
learn, for example, why some honey bees are hive workers and others are foragers,
and what makes some male fish wimps and others machos.
They are also comparing the sequenced genomes of the growing menagerie of animals,
probing whether genes known to influence behavior in one species play similar
roles in others. Investigators have even gone so far as to swap gene-regulating
DNA sequences between species with different lifestyles; in one case, they transformed
normally promiscuous rodents into faithful partners.
While these comparative approaches are de rigueur for evolutionary biologists,
they are something new for many neuroscientists and others who typically study
behavior in a single model organism, says Gene Robinson, an entomologist at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who is trying to encourage more crosstalk
between disciplines. "There is this clear gulf between people who are using
modern genetic techniques to study very specific questions and the people who
are studying natural diversity," adds Steve Phelps from the University of
Florida, Gainesville. But as more behavioral scientists take up the tools of
genomics and comparative biology, the payoff may be a deeper understanding of
the molecular basis of behavior in animals--even people--and how behaviors originally
evolved. The field "is very ripe for a productive synthesis," says
Phelps.
(read more here)
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Close contact.
Overly friendly mutant mice helped clarify the genetic
pathway involved in reactions to strangers.
CREDIT: E. CHOLERIS/UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH, ONTARIO
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