Abstract
We examined the interaction of the albino locus with the maternal environment on the behavioral development of two coisogenic strains of mice. Subjects of the pigmented C57BL/6 strain (=B6+/+) and of the albino C57BL/6c2J strain (=B6c/c) were either fostered by a mother of their own strain or cross-fostered at birth to an F1 hybrid dam. They were compared for the amount and daily distribution of activity displayed during 48 h in a seminatural device at weaning and when 75 days old. Food hoarding in the nest and food consumption at the food-search place were also recorded in adult subjects. When animals were fostered by a mother of their own strain, albino mice were more active and less nocturnal than pigmented mice at both ages. They hoarded less food in the nest and ate more at the food-search place. Most of these differences disappeared when both strains were fostered by an F1 dam. The amount of activity displayed during 48 h increased between 21 and 75 days of age. This increase was affected by cross-fostering to an F1 dam in B6c/c mice only. The developmental pattern of daily distribution of activity was changed by F1 dams in B6+/+ mice only. Whereas these influences of F1 dams produced subjects resembling the mother's phenotypic score, maternal effects on hoarding behavior in B6c/c mice produced subjects which did not resemble their foster mother. The results are discussed in terms of different possible ways of hereditary transmission of behavior and some methodological consequences are emphasized.
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Le Pape, G., Lassalle, J.M. Behavioral development in mice: Effects of maternal environment and the albino locus. Behav Genet 16, 531–541 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066339
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066339