Bi- and multivariate analyses of diallel crosses: a tool for the genetic dissection of neurobehavioral phenotypes

The genetic-correlational approach provides a very powerful tool for the analysis of causal relationships between phenotypes. It appears to be particularly appropriate for investigating the functional organization of behavior and/or causal relationships between brain and behavior. A method for the bivariate analysis of diallel crosses that permits the estimation of correlations due to environmental effects, additive-genetic effects, and/or dominance deviations is described, together with a worked-out example stemming from a five times replicated 4 x 4 diallel cross between inbred mouse strains. The phenotypes chosen to illustrate the analysis were locomotor activity and rearing frequency in an open field. Large, positive additive-genetic and dominance correlations between these two phenotypes were obtained. This finding was replicated in another, independently executed, diallel cross.