The epigenetics of animal personality

Oers, Kees van; Heuvel, Krista van den; Sepers, Bernice

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105194

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 241 publications

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“…In addition to morphological effects, experiences during early life development can also have long‐lasting effects on behavioural traits (see van Oers et al., 2023 ) such as exploratory behaviour, a well‐established personality trait in passerine birds (Carere et al., 2005 ; Krause et al., 2009 ; Krause & Naguib, 2011 ; Naguib et al., 2011 ). Personality describes individual differences in behavioural tendencies that are consistent across situations and time (Stamps & Groothuis, 2010a , 2010b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early developmental carry‐over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)

Sepers,

Verhoeven,

van Oers

2024

Evolutionary Applications

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Adverse, postnatal conditions experienced during development are known to induce lingering effects on morphology, behaviour, reproduction and survival. Despite the importance of early developmental stress for shaping the adult phenotype, it is largely unknown which molecular mechanisms allow for the induction and maintenance of such phenotypic effects once the early environmental conditions are released. Here we aimed to investigate whether lasting early developmental phenotypic changes are associated with post‐developmental DNA methylation changes. We used a cross‐foster and brood size experiment in great tit (Parus major) nestlings, which induced post‐fledging effects on biometric measures and exploratory behaviour, a validated personality trait. We investigated whether these post‐fledging effects are associated with DNA methylation levels of CpG sites in erythrocyte DNA. Individuals raised in enlarged broods caught up on their developmental delay after reaching independence and became more explorative as days since fledging passed, while the exploratory scores of individuals that were raised in reduced broods remained stable. Although we previously found that brood enlargement hardly affected the pre‐fledging methylation levels, we found 420 CpG sites that were differentially methylated between fledged individuals that were raised in small versus large sized broods. A considerable number of the affected CpG sites were located in or near genes involved in metabolism, growth, behaviour and cognition. Since the biological functions of these genes line up with the observed post‐fledging phenotypic effects of brood size, our results suggest that DNA methylation provides organisms the opportunity to modulate their condition once the environmental conditions allow it. In conclusion, this study shows that nutritional stress imposed by enlarged brood size during early development associates with variation in DNA methylation later in life. We propose that treatment‐associated DNA methylation differences may arise in relation to pre‐ or post‐fledging phenotypic changes, rather than that they are directly induced by the environment during early development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early developmental carry‐over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)

Sepers,

Verhoeven,

van Oers

2024

Evolutionary Applications

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A hypothesis of teleological evolution, via endogenous acetylcholine, nitric oxide, and calmodulin pathways

Lewis

2024

Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology

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Do sexes differ in consistent individual differences and behavioural syndrome in an aposematic poison frog?

Cossio,

Ibáñez,

Rodríguez

et al. 2024

Journal of Zoology

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There is a burgeoning interest in studying consistent individual differences in animal behaviour. Most studies consider mainly males, but sexes are subject to distinct selection pressures that may drive differences in life history and therefore lead to differences in a variety of behaviours. Here, we used Oophaga pumilio, a poison frog with sex differences in life‐history strategies (e.g., sex bias in space use and parental care), to explore whether sexes differ or share personality characteristics like behavioural consistency and behavioural syndromes. Based on the natural history of this species, we predicted sex differences in behavioural consistency in exploration but not in boldness, and a correlation between these behavioural traits. We found no sex differences in behavioural consistency in boldness and exploration, although, we observed a tendency of higher consistency in males than females in boldness. When pooling all individuals, we found a higher consistency in boldness than exploration, suggesting the presence of a bold personality in general. We observed a positive between‐individual correlation of boldness and exploration in both sexes indicating the presence of a behavioural syndrome. Our data suggest that selective mechanisms shaping individual behaviour act equally on both sexes in this poison frog.

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The epigenetics of animal personality

Cited by 3 publications

References 241 publications

Early developmental carry‐over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)

Early developmental carry‐over effects on exploratory behaviour and DNA methylation in wild great tits (Parus major)

A hypothesis of teleological evolution, via endogenous acetylcholine, nitric oxide, and calmodulin pathways

Do sexes differ in consistent individual differences and behavioural syndrome in an aposematic poison frog?

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