Companion Animal Research, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan.
Kato Acoustics Consulting Office, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
PLoS One. 2014 Feb 5;9(2):e87186. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087186. eCollection 2014.
Sexual imprinting is important for kin recognition and for promoting outbreeding, and has been a driving force for evolution; however, little is known about sexual imprinting by auditory cues in mammals. Male mice emit song-like ultrasonic vocalizations that possess strain-specific characteristics.
In this study, we asked whether female mice imprint and prefer specific characteristics in male songs.
We used the two-choice test to determine the song preference of female C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice. By assessing the time engaged in searching behavior towards songs played back to females, we found that female mice displayed an innate preference for the songs of males from different strains. Moreover, this song preference was regulated by female reproductive status and by male sexual cues such as the pheromone ESP1. Finally, we revealed that this preference was reversed by cross-fostering and disappeared under fatherless conditions, indicating that the behavior was learned by exposure to the father's song.
Our results suggest that female mice can discriminate among male song characteristics and prefer songs of mice from strains that are different from their parents, and that these preferences are based on their early social experiences. This is the first study in mammals to demonstrate that male songs contribute to kin recognition and mate choice by females, thus helping to avoid inbreeding and to facilitate offspring heterozygosity.
性印记对于亲缘识别和促进远缘杂交很重要，是进化的驱动力；然而，关于哺乳动物通过听觉线索进行性印记的知识却知之甚少。雄性小鼠会发出类似歌声的超声波，这些声音具有特定的特征。
在这项研究中，我们想知道雌性小鼠是否会对雄性歌曲中的特定特征产生印记并产生偏好。
我们使用了二选一测试来确定 C57BL/6 和 BALB/c 雌性小鼠对歌曲的偏好。通过评估雌性对回放歌曲的搜索行为时间，我们发现雌性小鼠对来自不同品系雄性的歌曲表现出先天的偏好。此外，这种歌曲偏好受到雌性生殖状态和雄性性线索（如 ESP1 信息素）的调节。最后，我们揭示了这种偏好可以通过交叉寄养来改变，并且在没有父鼠的情况下消失，这表明这种行为是通过暴露于父鼠的歌声而习得的。
我们的研究结果表明，雌性小鼠可以区分雄性歌曲的特征，并偏爱与父母不同的品系的雄性歌曲，并且这些偏好是基于它们早期的社交经验。这是哺乳动物中第一个研究表明，雄性歌曲有助于雌性的亲缘识别和择偶，从而有助于避免近亲繁殖和促进后代的杂合性。
