Holmes I S, Hastings I M
Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh.
Genet Res. 1995 Aug;66(1):27-33. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300034364.
Lines of mice have been selected for up to 50 generations on the following traits: high body weight, low body weight, high fat content or low fat content. The lines selected for high or low body weight differ by a factor of 2.5 and those selected for high or low fat content differ by a factor of five, both traits measured in 10 week old males. A set of behavioural traits was measured to ascertain whether this selection had caused correlated responses in behaviour: studies included feeding behaviour, open field behaviour, ultrasound calling rates of pups, and the response to the introduction of a novel physical object. Alterations in behavioural patterns which were expected a priori were observed but there appeared to be no changes in behaviour associated with any one selection criterion. Estimates of the genetic correlations between selected and behavioural traits were, with one exception, generally less than 0.1 in magnitude and not significantly different from zero (the exception was food intake in lines selected on body weight). Assuming that mice are accurate models for commercial species, then these results have important implications for animal welfare: they demonstrate that large scale behavioural changes do not arise as an inevitable consequence of intense long-term selection on traits of economic importance in commercial species.
已经根据以下性状对小鼠品系进行了多达50代的选育：高体重、低体重、高脂肪含量或低脂肪含量。选育出的高体重或低体重品系相差2.5倍，而选育出的高脂肪或低脂肪含量品系相差5倍，这两个性状均在10周龄雄性小鼠中测量。测量了一组行为性状，以确定这种选育是否在行为上引起了相关反应：研究包括进食行为、旷场行为、幼崽的超声叫声频率，以及对引入新物理物体的反应。观察到了先验预期的行为模式变化，但似乎没有与任何一个选择标准相关的行为变化。所选性状与行为性状之间的遗传相关性估计值，除一个例外，一般小于0.1，且与零无显著差异（例外是根据体重选育的品系中的食物摄入量）。假设小鼠是商业物种的准确模型，那么这些结果对动物福利具有重要意义：它们表明，大规模行为变化并非商业物种对经济重要性状进行长期高强度选育的必然结果。
