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Mapping behavioral traits by use of genome-tagged mice
Dahai Liu1, Ram Pyare Singh, Arshad H Khan
1Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1735, USA.
Objective:
Complex trait mapping has been widely used to analyze the genetics of behavior. However, the approach has some disadvantages, including poor gene localization and low replicability. Genome-tagged mice (GTMs) are sets of congenic mouse strains that span the entire mouse genome and are a promising reagent for localization of genes contributing to behavior.
Methods:
In order to map behavioral loci of interest, a GTM was investigated in which the middle region of Chromosome 1 from DBA/2J was introgressed onto a C57BL/6J background. The GTM was analyzed for behaviors related to sensorimotor gating, anxiety, depression, pain sensitivity, and learning and memory.
Results:
The GTM was found to harbor a locus contributing to learning and memory, replicating results from complex trait analysis.
Conclusions:
The GTMs should be a valuable resource for mapping and confirmation of loci contributing to complex behavioral traits in the mouse, with ultimate implications for human genomic-based research, as well.
