Correlated characters in selection for aggressiveness in female mice. II. maternal aggressiveness

Abstract

The present study investigated whether maternal aggression has shown a correlated response in a program of artificial selection for isolation-induced interfemale aggression in housemice. Females from the first replicate of lines (H1, C1, L1) and the second replicate of lines (H2, C2, L2) from generation S5 were given daily aggression tests for 20 consecutive days following the birth of their first litter. Evidence of a correlated response was found for replicate 2, but results for replicate 1 provided no evidence of a correlated response. In generation S10, when better separation of the lines on isolation-induced aggression had occurred, the study was repeated. In S10 there was clear evidence of a correlated response in both of the replicates.

Predatory aggression, but not maternal or intermale aggression, is associated with high voluntary wheel-running behavior in mice

“…For example, in two studies that selectively bred for high female-female (not maternal) aggression (Hyde and Ebert, 1976;Hyde and Sawyer, 1980) and in one study selecting for high intermale aggression (van Oortmerssen and Bakker, 1981), no correlation between intermale and female-female aggression was found. In another study, selection for high female-female aggression was found to be correlated to high maternal aggression (Hyde and Sawyer, 1979). Taken together, these studies provide an indirect line of evidence that maternal and intermale aggression are not tightly related at the genetic level.…”

Hormones and the Evolution of Complex Traits: Insights from Artificial Selection on Behavior

“…Rodents, especially laboratory house mice and laboratory Norway rats, have been common subjects of selection experiments under controlled laboratory conditions (Hyde 1981;Rhodes and Kawecki 2009;Swallow et al 2009). House mice have been bred for a wide range of behavioral traits, including open-field behavior (DeFries et al 1978;Flint et al 2004;, thermoregulatory nesting (Lynch 1980(Lynch , 1994Bult and Lynch 2000), female agonistic behavior (from a wild-derived starting population: Ebert and Hyde (1976); Hyde and Ebert (1976); Hyde and Sawyer (1979); Hyde and Sawyer (1980)), maternal defense (Gammie et al 2006), voluntary wheel running Rhodes and Kawecki 2009;Swallow et al 2009), and home-cage activity (Zombeck et al 2011;Majdak et al 2014).…”

Development, microevolution, and social behavior.

“…11The exceptions include the valuable work of Ebert and Hyde (1976); Ebert and Sawyer (1980); Hyde and Ebert (1976); Hyde and Sawyer (1979); Lagerspetz and Lagerspetz (1975); St. John and Corning (1973); Vale, Ray, and Vale (1972); and van Oortmerssen and Bakker (1981).…”