Yasui Saki, Konno Akitsugu, Tanaka Masayuki, Idani Gen'ichi, Ludwig Arne, Lieckfeldt Dietmar, Inoue-Murayama Miho
Wildlife Research Center, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto, Japan.
Zoo Biol. 2013 Jan-Feb;32(1):70-8. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21045. Epub 2012 Sep 19.
Elephants live in a complex society based on matrilineal groups. Management of captive elephants is difficult, partly because each elephant has a unique personality. For a better understanding of elephant well being in captivity, it would be helpful to systematically evaluate elephants' personalities and their underlying biological basis. We sent elephant' personality questionnaires to keepers of 75 elephants. We also used 196 elephant DNA samples to search for genetic polymorphisms in genes expressed in the brain that have been suggested to be related to personality traits. Three genes, androgen receptor (AR), fragile X related mental retardation protein interacting protein (NUFIP2), and acheate-scute homologs 1 (ASH1) contained polymorphic regions. We examined the association of personality with intraspecific genetic variation in 17 Asian and 28 African elephants. The results suggest that the ASH1 genotype was associated with neuroticism in Asian elephants. Subjects with short alleles had lower scores of neuroticism than those with long alleles. This is the first report of an association between a genetic polymorphism and personality in elephants.
大象生活在基于母系群体的复杂社会中。圈养大象的管理很困难，部分原因是每头大象都有独特的个性。为了更好地了解圈养大象的健康状况，系统地评估大象的个性及其潜在的生物学基础会有所帮助。我们向75头大象的饲养员发放了大象个性问卷。我们还使用了196份大象DNA样本，以寻找在大脑中表达且被认为与个性特征相关的基因中的遗传多态性。三个基因，雄激素受体（AR）、脆性X相关智力低下蛋白相互作用蛋白（NUFIP2）和achaete-scute同源物1（ASH1）包含多态性区域。我们研究了17头亚洲象和28头非洲象的个性与种内遗传变异的关联。结果表明，ASH1基因型与亚洲象的神经质有关。短等位基因的个体神经质得分低于长等位基因的个体。这是关于大象遗传多态性与个性之间关联的首次报道。
