Both Environment and Genetic Makeup Influence Sexual Behavior of House Mouse

Abstract

We examined changes in behavioral elements of Mus musculus musculus and Mus musculus domesticus while encountering with conspecific, allospecific animals. To do this, pure (senso lato) M. m. musculus and pure (senso lato) M. m. domesticus were obtained from the north east and the west of Iran, respectively, and mating experiments were conducted for both sub. Our study of the behavioral elements of opposite sex as the mate preference factors, within and between the two subspecies, showed that females represent more specific behavior than males in all the test groups. Also both females and males showed non-social behavior during inter-subspecies opposite sex encounters, but the aggressive behavior was just observed more when females encountered the other subspecies males. Although further studies on recognition signals (soiled bedding and urine) as a subspecies recognition system will be necessary to show inter-subspecific behavioral differences that may shape pre-mating isolation between subspecies in Iran.

Appendix

The percentage of contribution of each female in studied behavioral factors (referable to Table 1) in paired group segregation (described in Sect. 2).

DD × MM		DD × Dom-M		DD × Mus-D		MM × Dom-M		MM × Mus-D		Dom-M × Mus-D
D	11.07	N	23.48	K	16.83	N	22.27	D	18.21	N	35.91
K	9.17	B	6.94	B	13.01	D	12	B	17.14	S	6.41
B	5.94	K	6.48	N	6.62	B	10.61	A	9.23	O	5.77
A	5.42	S	5.95	D	5.25	S	5.93	H	5.85	K	4.45
N	3.99	O	5.46	S	4.57	A	5.59	C	5.4	Q	3.68
C	3.65	D	3.32	M	3.51	O	4.42	S	4.41	R	3.5
H	3.42	R	3.12	O	3.45	H	3.83	F	4.4	B	1.98
O	3.23	Q	2.98	A	3.16	C	3.57	E	4.2	M	1.67
E	3.16	M	2.1	F	3.1	R	3.17	O	3.79	A	0.97
F	2.74	F	1.71	L	3.03	F	2.92	G	2.76	P	0.83
G	2.36	L	1.69	G	1.99	E	2.91	R	2.54	D	0.78
L	1.53	A	1.64	H	1.99	K	2.82	M	2.52	E	0.4
S	1.5	G	1.12	R	1.96	Q	2.53	N	1.7	G	0
R	1.08	H	1.12	C	1.62	G	1.79	K	1.1	F	0
I	0.22	C	0.88	E	1.09	M	1.72	L	0.63	C	0
P	0	P	0.61	P	0	P	0.49	I	0.27	L	0
M	0	E	0.55	I	0	L	0.42	P	0	I	0
Q	0	I	0	Q	0	I	0.19	Q	0	H	0

The percentage of contribution of each male in studied behavioral factors (referable to Table 1) in paired group segregation (described in Sect. 2).

DD × MM		DD × Dom-M		DD × Mus-D		MM × Dom-M		MM × Mus-D		Dom-M × Mus-D
A	7.21	A	13.19	A	14.42	B	15.19	B	17.22	O	17.9
B	6.81	O	13.04	O	12.09	O	11.05	A	10.49	Q	9.9
E	5.46	B	10.04	B	11.81	A	9.95	O	7.97	N	9.03
D	4.73	E	8.16	E	8.57	Q	6.16	N	5.52	M	4.72
O	4.17	Q	7.43	D	7.57	D	5.01	D	5.3	B	3.49
N	3.2	N	7.36	M	6.13	N	4.94	M	5.2	R	3.15
F	2.9	D	6.8	N	4.84	F	3.73	F	3.88	D	2.4
S	1.98	M	2.85	F	2.58	M	2.45	S	2.46	A	2.11
H	1.37	F	2.46	R	2.21	S	2.37	R	2.06	P	1.15
J	1.21	P	0.95	S	0.84	E	1.81	E	1.88	S	0.85
R	1.19	S	0.79	Q	0.7	H	1.55	H	1.62	G	0
Q	0.96	R	0.67	L	0.61	J	1.41	J	1.48	F	0
G	0.92	L	0.59	G	0.46	R	1.38	Q	1.17	C	0
K	0.82	G	0.44	K	0.31	G	1.05	G	1.11	L	0
L	0.77	K	0.29	P	0	P	0.99	K	0.89	K	0
C	0.48	C	0	C	0	K	0.86	C	0.55	E	0
P	0.23	J	0	J	0	C	0.53	L	0.54	J	0
M	0	H	0	H	0	L	0.52	P	0.27	H	0

The first three principal components (PCs) for female and male.

	Eigenvalue	%variation	Cumulative %variation
Female
PC1	106.77	56.65	56.65
PC2	37.52	19.91	76.56
PC3	14.21	7.54	84.11
Male
PC1	50.38	46.67	46.67
PC2	24.45	22.65	69.32
PC3	12.71	11.77	81.09