Abstract
For a genetic analysis of aggression, wild males were crossed to two inbred strains, BALB/c and C57BL, and to wild females. The male progeny were tested against BALB/c and subsequently against C57BL standard opponents in a neutral arena during two successive 5-min encounters. Attack latency, number of bites, number of attacks, and total attack time were highly correlated within each 5-min period but the correlations between periods were relatively low. In the first 5 min, mice with a BALB/c mother were far more aggressive toward the C57BL opponent, and vice versa. This maternal effect complicated the genetic analysis, but there was considerable additive genetic variation for all the main measures, the narrow heritabilities ranged from 0.56 to 0.75, and there was little directional dominance for high aggression. The genetic architecture suggested that stabilizing selection is the main selective force behind the evolution of variation in male social aggression.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Brain, P. F., and Poole, A. E. (1974). Some studies on the use of standard opponents in intermale aggression testing in TT albino mice.Behaviour 102:96–109.
Bronson, F. H., and Eleftheriou, B. E. (1965). Adrenal response to fighting in mice: Separation of physical and psychological causes. Science147:627–628.
Bruell, J. H. (1970). Behavioral population genetics and wildMus musculus. In Lindzey, G., and Theissen, D. D. (eds.),Contributions to Behavior-Genetic Analysis: The Mouse as a Prototype, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp. 261–291.
Catlett, R. H. (1961). An evaluation of methods for measuring fighting behavior with special reference toMus musculus.Anim. Behav. 9:8–10.
Denenberg, V. H., Paschke, R. E., and Zarrow, M. X. (1973). Mice reared with rats: Effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal environments upon hybrid offspring of C57BL/10J and Swiss albino mice.Dev. Psychobiol. 6:21–31.
Eleftheriou, B. E., Bailey, D. W., and Denenberg, V. H. (1974). Genetic analysis of fighting behavior in mice.Physiol. Behav. 3:773–777.
Fulker, D. W. (1972). Applications of a simplified triple-test cross.Behav. Genet. 2:185–198.
Ginsburg, B. E., and Jumonville, J. E. (1967). Genetic variability in response to early stimulation viewed as an adaptive mechanism in population ecology.Am. Zool. 7:795.
Grimm, V. E. (1980). The role of submissiveness in isolation induced intermale fighting in mice.Int. J. Neurosci. 11:115–120.
Hay, D. A. (1975). Y chromosome and aggression in mice.Nature 255:658.
Hyde, J. S., and Ebert, P. D. (1976). Correlated response in selection for aggressiveness in female mice. I. Male aggression.Behav. Genet. 6:421–427.
Kessler, S., Harmatz, P., and Gerling, S. A. (1975). The genetics of pheromonally mediated aggression in mice. I. Strain differences in the capacity of male urinary odors to elicit aggression.Behav. Genet. 5:233–238.
Kessler, S., Elliot, G. R., Orenberg, E. K., and Barchas, J. D. (1977). A genetic analysis of aggressive behavior in two strains of mice.Behav. Genet. 7:313–321.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J. (1961). Genetic and social causes of aggressive behavior in mice.Scand. J. Psychol. 2:167–173.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J. (1964). Studies on the aggressive behaviour of mice.Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. B 131:1–131.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J., and Heino, T. (1970). Changes in social relations resulting from early experience of another species.Psychol. Rep. 27:255–262.
Lagerspetz, K. M. J., and Lagerspetz, K. Y. H. (1974). Genetic determination of aggressive behaviour. In van Abeelen, J. H. F. (ed.),The Genetics Behaviour, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 321–347.
Leshner, A. I., and Nock, B. L. (1976). The effects of experience on agonistic responding: An expectancy theory interpretation.Behav. Biol. 17:561–566.
Levine, L., Grossfield, J., and Rockwell, R. F. (1979). Functional relationships between genotypes and environments in behavior.J. Hered. 70:317–320.
Mather, K., and Jinks, J. L. (1971).Biometrical Genetics, 2nd ed., Chapman and Hall, London.
Maxson, S. C., Ginsburg, B. E., and Trattner, A. (1979). Interaction of Y-chromosomal and autosomal gene(s) in the development of intermale aggression in mice.Behav. Genet. 9:219–226.
Paschke, R. E., Denenberg, V. H., and Zarrow, M. X. (1971). Mice reared with rats: An interstrain comparison of mother and “aunt” effects.Behaviour 38:315–331.
Rose, A., and Parsons, P. A. (1970). Behavioural studies in different strains of mice and the problem of heterosis.Genetika 41:65–87.
Selmanoff, M. K., Jumonville, J. E., Maxson, S. C., and Ginsburg, B. E. (1975). Evidence for a Y chromosomal contribution to an aggressive phenotype in inbred mice.Nature 253:529–530.
Simon, N. G. (1979). The genetics of intermale aggressive behavior in mice: Recent research and alternative strategies.Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 3:97–106.
Singleton, G. R. (1975).Sequential Analysis of the Behaviour of Mus musculusin the Open Field, Unpublished B. Sc. (Honors) thesis, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
Smith, R. H. (1972). Wildness and domestication inMus musculus: A behavioral analysis.J. Comp. Physiol. Psychol. 79:22–29.
Southwick, C. H. (1970). Genetic and environmental variables influencing animal aggression. In Southwick, C. H. (ed.),Animal Aggression. Selected Readings, Van Nostrand, New York, pp 213–229.
Stewart, A. D., Manning, A., and Batty, J. (1980). Effects of Y-chromosome variants on the male behaviour of the mouseMus musculus.Genet. Res. Camb. 35:261–268.
Taylor, G. T. (1979). Reinforcement and intraspecific aggressive behavior.Behav. Neur. Biol. 27:1–24.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singleton, G.R., Hay, D.A. A genetic study of male social aggression in wild and laboratory mice. Behav Genet 12, 435–448 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065635
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01065635