Single-locus control of saccharin preference in mice.

VIDENCE for single-locus control of behavioral differences among inbred strains of mice is accumulating; examples include proneness to audiogenic seizure ' , avoidance learning', various activity measures", and vocalization' ' beginning with .096 percent W/V) and doubling succes- sively to 3.08 percent (W/V)). No differences were found between strains B and D in acuity threshold or aversion threshold. The B mice had a lower threshold for preference and drank more from the higher concentrations when the six solutions were simul- taneously presented. The F, hybrids responded like the B mice. The preference and avoidance thresholds are shown in Figure 1. Note that in comparison with the two other genotypes the area of preference for the D mice is restricted both with respect to range of concentrations (horizontal dimension) and to intensity of preference when it occurs (vertical dimension). This pattern sug- gests the complete dominance of the B strain's prefer- ence for saccharin. The hypothesis was further sup- ported by the response to saccharin of both strains and their hybrid during food deprivation s . Pelz et al. 9 also found large differences between inbred strains and feral mice in their preference for saccharin, and although they reported no data from crosses beyond the F,, their results are compatible with the hypothesis of single-locus regulation of preference for saccharin at moderate concentrations. This paper discusses the results of an experiment in which the genetics of preference were investigated in hybrids between B and D mice. Method