Abstract
A well-characterised sequence length polymorphism in the serotonin transporter promoter region (5-HTTLPR) influences individual behavioural traits and cognitive abilities in humans and rhesus macaques. Macaques have been classified into four continuous grades on the basis of their behavioural attributes, ranging from highly hierarchical and nepotistic species to the most egalitarian and tolerant ones. A comparative study of several species that spanned these grades revealed only rhesus macaques to be polymorphic at the 5-HTTLPR and concluded that the polymorphism was responsible for their despotic and aggressive behaviour (Wendland et al., Behav Genet 36:163–172, 2006). We studied wild populations of three other species and found that the egalitarian and tolerant bonnet and Arunachal macaques are also polymorphic while liontailed macaques, although belonging to the same group, are monomorphic. We thus reject a role for this particular polymorphism in interspecific behavioural variability and show that polymorphic species enjoy greater ecological success possibly due to their higher intraspecific variability in individual behavioural traits.
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Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Mayukh Chatterjee for tissue samples of bonnet macaques, Nabam Gama, R. Suresh Kumar and the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department, particularly Pekyom Ringu for those of Arunachal macaques, and T. R. Shankar Raman, Divya Mudappa, Suhel Quader and David Abraham for those of lion-tailed macaques. We also thank the Central Zoo Authority of India; the authorities and veterinary staff of Dr. Shyamaprasad Mukharjee Zoological Garden, Surat; Aurangabad Municipal Zoo, Aurangabad; Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan and Zoo, Mumbai; Nisargakavi Bahinabai Choudhary Pranisangrahalay, Pimpri; Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park and Research Centre, Pune; State Museum and Zoo, Thrissur; and V. Ramesh of the Primate Research Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India for blood samples of bonnet macaques. We express our sincere gratitude to Sonia Joseph for her skilful technical support in DNA sequencing, two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on an earlier version of this paper, Samrat Mondol, Robin V Vijayan and all the members of Laboratory 3 of the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India for their help and encouragement. This research was funded by a NCBS TIFR grant to UR. SC was funded by a DST, Govt. of India grant to AS and a DBT, Govt. of India grant to UR and AS.
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Chakraborty, S., Chakraborty, D., Mukherjee, O. et al. Genetic Polymorphism in the Serotonin Transporter Promoter Region and Ecological Success in Macaques. Behav Genet 40, 672–679 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-010-9360-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-010-9360-2