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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 20, 2026

Using a Comparative Species Approach to Investigate the Neurobiology of Paternal Responses
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Agouti integrates environmental cues to regulate paternal behaviour.

Forrest Dylan Rogers1,2, Sehee Kim1, Sarah A Mereby2

  • 1Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.

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|February 18, 2026
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Summary

Social environment shapes male parenting in African striped mice. Isolation boosts paternal care, while group living increases infanticide, mediated by Agouti signaling in the brain.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Paternal care is infrequent in mammals, and its underlying neural control is not well understood.
  • Natural variation in male parenting behaviors presents an opportunity to study the neurobiological basis of care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural mechanisms driving natural variation in male alloparenting behavior.
  • To understand how socio-environmental factors influence paternal care and infanticide in male mammals.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized African striped mice for their natural paternal behavior.
  • Employed brain-wide cFos mapping, single-nucleus RNA sequencing, and viral gene manipulation.
  • Integrated environmental manipulations, including social isolation and group housing.

Main Results:

  • Socio-environmental conditions significantly alter male parenting; isolation increases care, while dense group housing promotes infanticide.
  • Neural activity in the medial preoptic area correlates with care variation.
  • Agouti signaling protein (Agouti) expression in the medial preoptic area is linked to housing conditions and inversely related to paternal care.

Conclusions:

  • Variation in male paternal care is regulated by context-dependent hypothalamic and melanocortin signaling pathways.
  • Agouti signaling integrates long-term environmental conditions, influencing male parenting behaviors.
  • Findings suggest that paternal capacity is modulated by environmental factors rather than being fixed.