Genetic analysis of different kinds of aggressive behavior

Various kinds of aggressive behavior such as spontaneous intermale aggression, predatory aggression (locust-killing behavior), and irritable (shock-induced) aggression were investigated in inbred strains of mice. Genotype was shown to affect significantly the phenotypic variety of these kinds of aggression. There were, however, no interstrain correlations either between intermale aggression and predatory behavior or between intensity of intermale, shock-induced aggression and locust-killing behavior. Moreover, the intermale aggression level (percentage of fighting mice in each strain) did not correlate with the intensity of fighting. It has been shown by Mendelian analysis on C57BL/6J and BALB/c strains that these indices of intermale aggression are under different genetic control. The selection of Norway rats over 20 generations for reduced fear-induced aggressiveness toward man resulted in a decrease in irritable aggression and loss of an aggressive response to man. No changes in intermale and predatory aggression, however, were found. Hence, different kinds of aggressive behavior—intermale, predatory, and fear-induced aggression—seem to be controlled by different genetic mechanisms.

[1]  R. Beilharz,et al.  Social dominance and reproductive performance in laboratory mice. , 1973, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[2]  K. Miczek.  The Psychopharmacology of Aggression , 1987 .

[3]  V. Denenberg,et al.  Genetic analysis of fighting behavior in mice. , 1974, Physiology & behavior.

[4]  R. R. Hutchinson.  The pain‐aggression relationship and its expression in naturalistic settings , 1983 .

[5]  Popova Nk,et al.  Change in tryptophan hydroxylase activity in the brain of silver foxes and wild Norway rats in the course of selection according to behavior , 1989 .

[6]  P. Mandel,et al.  γ-Aminobutyric acid in brain areas of isolated aggressive or non-aggressive inbred strains of mice , 1982, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.

[7]  N. K. Popova,et al.  Predatory aggression in the mink (Mustela vison): Roles of serotonin and food satiation , 1988 .

[8]  E. Alleva,et al.  Effects of isolation on activity, reactivity, excitability and aggressive behavior in two inbred strains of mice , 1981, Behavioural Brain Research.

[9]  Nikonov Av.  The isolation syndrome , 1988 .

[10]  D. Falconer,et al.  Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. , 1962 .

[11]  M. Caullery.  GENETICS AND EVOLUTION. , 1931, Science.

[12]  J. Axelrod,et al.  Association between fighting behavior and catecholamine biosynthetic enzyme activity in two inbred mouse sublines. , 1974, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[13]  N. K. Popova,et al.  Genetic analysis of “Spontaneous” intermale aggression in mice , 1986 .

[14]  P. Brain.  What does individual housing mean to a mouse? , 1975, Life sciences.

[15]  M. Hahn,et al.  The inheritance of agonistic behavior in male mice: A diallel analysis , 1982 .

[16]  J. Barchas,et al.  Serotonin and behavior , 1973 .

[17]  D. Blanchard,et al.  Inadequacy of pain–aggression hypothesis revealed in naturalistic settings , 1984 .

[18]  N. K. Popova,et al.  Serotonin metabolism and serotonergic receptors in Norway rats selected for low aggressiveness to man , 1991 .

[19]  L. Valzelli.  Psychobiology of aggression and violence , 1981 .

[20]  N. K. Popova,et al.  Behavior, adrenocortical activity, and brain monoamines in Norway rats selected for reduced aggressiveness towards man , 1989, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.

[21]  J. Barchas,et al.  A genetic analysis of aggressive behavior in two strains of mice , 1977, Behavior genetics.

[22]  E. Nikulina.  Characteristic features of manifestation of predatory aggression in mice , 1981 .

[23]  C. Southwick,et al.  Interstrain differences in aggressive behavior and exploratory activity of inbred mice. , 1968 .

[24]  R. Z. Brown.  Social Behavior, Reproduction, and Population Changes in the House Mouse (Mus musculus L.) , 1953 .

[25]  B. Ginsburg,et al.  Interaction of Y-chromosomal and autosomal gene(s) in the development of intermale aggresiion in mice , 1979, Behavior genetics.

[26]  D. K. Belyaev.  Destabilizing selection as a factor of domestication. , 1979 .

[27]  K. Moyer,et al.  Kinds of aggression and their physiological basis , 1968 .

[28]  B. Ginsburg,et al.  Evidence for a Y chromosomal contribution to an aggressive phenotype in inbred mice , 1975, Nature.

[29]  P. Marsh,et al.  Aggression and Violence , 1984 .

[30]  L. Ehrman,et al.  Behavior genetics and evolution , 1981 .

[31]  B. Ginsburg,et al.  Chromosomal determinants of intermale aggressive behavior in inbred mice , 1976, Behavior genetics.

[32]  D. Blanchard,et al.  The colony model of aggression and defense. , 1990 .

[33]  P. Brain,et al.  Effects of lithium chloride injections on rank-related fighting, maternal aggression and locust-killing responses in naive and experienced ‘TO’ strain mice , 1979, Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior.