Mouse Genomics Resource Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
Exp Anim. 2011;60(4):347-54. doi: 10.1538/expanim.60.347.
Behavior has been proven to be extremely variable among human individuals. One of the most important factors for such variations of behavior is genetic diversity. A variety of mouse strains are reportedly suitable animal models for investigating the genetic basis of large individual differences in behavior. Laboratory strains have been shown to exhibit different behavioral traits due to variations in their genetic background. However, they show low-level genetic polymorphism because the original colony used for establishing the strains comprises a relatively small number of mice. Furthermore, because the laboratory strains were derived from fancy mice, they have lost the original behavioral phenotype of wild mice. Therefore, incorporation of inbred strains derived from wild mice of different mouse subspecies for behavioral studies is a marked advantage. In the long-term process of establishing a variety of wild-derived inbred strains from wild mice captured all over the world, a number of strains have been established. We previously identified a marked variety in behavioral traits using a Mishima battery. This review reports on the usefulness of wild-derived strains for genetic analyses of behavioral phenotypes in mice.
行为在人类个体中被证明是极其多变的。导致这种行为差异的最重要因素之一是遗传多样性。据报道，多种小鼠品系适合作为研究行为个体差异的遗传基础的动物模型。由于遗传背景的不同，实验室品系表现出不同的行为特征。然而，由于用于建立这些品系的原始种群包含相对较少数量的小鼠，因此它们表现出低水平的遗传多态性。此外，由于实验室品系源自观赏鼠，它们已经失去了野生鼠的原始行为表型。因此，将源自不同小鼠亚种的野生近交系纳入行为研究是一个显著的优势。在从世界各地捕获的野生鼠中建立各种野生衍生的近交系的长期过程中，已经建立了许多品系。我们之前使用 Mishima 电池鉴定了在行为特征方面的明显差异。这篇综述报告了野生衍生系在分析小鼠行为表型的遗传方面的有用性。
