The laboratory mouse serves as an important model system for studying gene, brain and behavioural interactions. Powerful methods of gene targeting have helped to decipher gene-function associations in human diseases. Yet, the laboratory mouse, obtained after decades of human-driven artificial selection, inbreeding, and adaptation to captivity, is of limited use for the study of fitness-driven behavioural responses that characterize the ancestral wild house mouse. Here, we demonstrate that the backcrossing of wild mice with knockout mutant laboratory mice retrieves behavioural traits exhibited exclusively by the wild house mouse, thereby unmasking gene functions inaccessible in the domesticated mutant model. Furthermore, we show that domestication had a much greater impact on females than on males, erasing many behavioural traits of the ancestral wild female. Hence, compared with laboratory mice, wild-derived mutant mice constitute an improved model system to gain insights into neuronal mechanisms underlying normal and pathological sexually dimorphic social behaviours.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.