Kovács Krisztina, Virányi Zsófia, Kis Anna, Turcsán Borbála, Hudecz Ágnes, Marmota Maria T, Koller Dóra, Rónai Zsolt, Gácsi Márta, Topál József
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Comparative Cognition & Wolf Science Center, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Front Psychol. 2018 Apr 5;9:435. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00435. eCollection 2018.
Variations in human infants' attachment behavior are associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene, suggesting a genetic component to infant-mother attachment. However, due to the genetic relatedness of infants and their mothers, it is difficult to separate the genetic effects of infants' OXTR genotype from the environmental effects of mothers' genotype possibly affecting their parental behavior. The apparent functional analogy between child-parent and dog-owner relationship, however, offers a way to disentangle the effects of these factors because pet dogs are not genetically related to their caregivers. In the present study we investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms of pet dogs' OXTR gene (-213AG,-94TC,-74CG) and their owners' OXTR gene (rs53576, rs1042778, rs2254298) are associated with components of dog-owner attachment. In order to investigate whether social-environmental effects modulate the potential genetic influence on attachment, dogs and their owners from two different countries (Austria and Hungary, = 135 in total) were tested in a modified version of the Ainsworth Strange Situation Test (SST) and questionnaires were also used to collect information about owner personality and attachment style. We coded variables related to three components of attachment behavior in dogs: their sensitivity to the separation from and interaction with the owner (Attachment), stress caused by the unfamiliar environment (Anxiety), and their responsiveness to the stranger (Acceptance). We found that (1) dogs' behavior was significantly associated with polymorphisms in both dogs' and owners' OXTR gene, (2) SNPs in dogs' and owners' OXTR gene interactively influenced dog-human relationship, (3) dogs' attachment behavior was affected by the country of origin, and (4) it was related to their owners' personality as well as attachment style. Thus, the present study provides evidence, for the first time, that both genetic variation in the OXTR gene and various aspects of pet dogs' environmental background are associated with their attachment to their human caregivers.
人类婴儿依恋行为的差异与催产素受体（OXTR）基因中的单核苷酸多态性（SNP）有关，这表明婴儿与母亲的依恋存在遗传成分。然而，由于婴儿与其母亲存在遗传相关性，因此很难将婴儿OXTR基因型的遗传效应与母亲基因型可能影响其养育行为的环境效应区分开来。不过，儿童与父母的关系和狗与主人的关系之间明显的功能相似性，为区分这些因素的影响提供了一种方法，因为宠物狗与它们的照顾者没有遗传关系。在本研究中，我们调查了宠物狗OXTR基因（-213AG、-94TC、-74CG）及其主人OXTR基因（rs53576、rs1042778、rs2254298）的单核苷酸多态性是否与狗和主人的依恋成分有关。为了研究社会环境效应是否调节对依恋的潜在遗传影响，来自两个不同国家（奥地利和匈牙利，共135对）的狗及其主人在经过修改的安斯沃思陌生情境测试（SST）中接受了测试，并且还使用问卷收集了有关主人个性和依恋风格的信息。我们对与狗的依恋行为的三个成分相关的变量进行了编码：它们对与主人分离和互动的敏感性（依恋）、陌生环境引起的压力（焦虑）以及它们对陌生人的反应性（接受度）。我们发现：（1）狗的行为与狗和主人的OXTR基因多态性均显著相关；（2）狗和主人的OXTR基因中的SNP交互影响狗与人的关系；（3）狗的依恋行为受原产国影响；（4）它与主人的个性以及依恋风格有关。因此，本研究首次提供了证据，表明OXTR基因的遗传变异以及宠物狗环境背景的各个方面都与它们对人类照顾者的依恋有关。
