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PubMed1992

Genetic and environmental influences on item response pattern scalability.

Numerous studies have examined how genetic and environmental factors determine individual differences on multi-item personality scales. Few studies, however, have examined how genes and the environment influence the route by which individuals obtain their scores on these scales. Specifically, on a multi-item test, dozens of item response patterns result in equivalent total scores, though some response patterns are more likely to be observed than others. For many scales it may be of interest to determine the genetic and environmental influences on the item response patterns, as well as the sum of the item responses. We discuss a latent trait measure of item response pattern scalability, called Zl (Levine and Drasgow, 1982), and investigate the properties of this index from a behavioral genetics perspective. Using a large sample of identical and fraternal twins from the Minnesota Twin Registry (Lykken et al., 1990), item response pattern scalability is shown to be moderately heritable. On the four scales of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Tellegen, 1982) that were investigated, approximately 20% of the variation in scalability was due to genetic diversity between subjects of our sample. Follow-up analyses, using a factor-analytically based, genotype-environment model of item response behavior, indicated that specific genetic and environmental factors play a substantial role in determining item response pattern variation.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Caenorhabditis elegans Galphaq regulates egg-laying behavior via a PLCbeta-independent and serotonin-dependent signaling pathway and likely functions both in the nervous system and in muscle.

egl-30 encodes the single C. elegans ortholog of vertebrate Galphaq family members. We analyzed the expression pattern of EGL-30 and found that it is broadly expressed, with highest expression in the nervous system and in pharyngeal muscle. We isolated dominant, gain-of-function alleles of egl-30 as intragenic revertants of an egl-30 reduction-of-function mutation. Using these gain-of-function mutants and existing reduction-of-function mutants, we examined the site and mode of action of EGL-30. On the basis of pharmacological analysis, it has been determined that egl-30 functions both in the nervous system and in the vulval muscles for egg-laying behavior. Genetic epistasis over mutations that eliminate detectable levels of serotonin reveals that egl-30 requires serotonin to regulate egg laying. Furthermore, pharmacological response assays strongly suggest that EGL-30 may directly couple to a serotonin receptor to mediate egg laying. We also examined genetic interactions with mutations in the gene that encodes the single C. elegans homolog of PLCbeta and mutations in genes that encode signaling molecules downstream of PLCbeta. We conclude that PLCbeta functions in parallel with egl-30 with respect to egg laying or is not the major effector of EGL-30. In contrast, PLCbeta-mediated signaling is likely downstream of EGL-30 with respect to pharyngeal-pumping behavior. Our data indicate that there are multiple signaling pathways downstream of EGL-30 and that different pathways could predominate with respect to the regulation of different behaviors.

Alleles↗
PubMed2001

Genetic and environmental influences on observed personality: evidence from the German Observational Study of Adult Twins.

Previous behavior-genetic research on adult personality relied primarily on self-reports or peer reports that may be subject to contrast effects, resulting in biased estimates of genetic and environmental influences. In the German Observational Study of Adult Twins (GOSAT), personality traits of 168 monozygotic (MZ) and 132 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs were rated on 35 adjective scales, largely markers of the Big 5. The ratings were provided by 120 judges who never met the twins but observed videotaped behaviors of 1 twin of each pair in 1 of 15 different settings. The aggregated video-based trait ratings were highly reliable, and substantial correlations were obtained between MZ as well as DZ twins. Model-fit analyses suggested about 40% genetic, 25% shared environmental, and 35% nonshared environmental influence. Extraversion was the only trait that seemed not to be influenced by shared environment.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Effects of voluntary activity and genetic selection on muscle metabolic capacities in house mice Mus domesticus.

Selective breeding is an important tool in behavioral genetics and evolutionary physiology, but it has rarely been applied to the study of exercise physiology. We are using artificial selection for increased wheel-running behavior to study the correlated evolution of locomotor activity and physiological determinants of exercise capacity in house mice. We studied enzyme activities and their response to voluntary wheel running in mixed hindlimb muscles of mice from generation 14, at which time individuals from selected lines ran more than twice as many revolutions per day as those from control (unselected) lines. Beginning at weaning and for 8 wk, we housed mice from each of four replicate selected lines and four replicate control lines with access to wheels that were free to rotate (wheel-access group) or locked (sedentary group). Among sedentary animals, mice from selected lines did not exhibit a general increase in aerobic capacities: no mitochondrial [except pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH)] or glycolytic enzyme activity was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in control mice. Sedentary mice from the selected lines exhibited a trend for higher muscle aerobic capacities, as indicated by higher levels of mitochondrial (cytochrome-c oxidase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase, citrate synthase, and PDH) and glycolytic (hexokinase and phosphofructokinase) enzymes, with concomitant lower anaerobic capacities, as indicated by lactate dehydrogenase (especially in male mice). Consistent with previous studies of endurance training in rats via voluntary wheel running or forced treadmill exercise, cytochrome-c oxidase, citrate synthase, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity increased in the wheel-access groups for both genders; hexokinase also increased in both genders. Some enzymes showed gender-specific responses: PDH and lactate dehydrogenase increased in wheel-access male but not female mice, and glycogen phosphorylase decreased in female but not in male mice. Two-way analysis of covariance revealed significant interactions between line type and activity group; for several enzymes, activities showed greater changes in mice from selected lines, presumably because such mice ran more revolutions per day and at greater velocities. Thus genetic selection for increased voluntary wheel running did not reduce the capability of muscle aerobic capacity to respond to training.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Genetic and environmental contributions to loneliness in children.

This report presents the results of the first behavioral genetic studies of children's loneliness. Data were collected using both an adoption design and a twin-sibling design. As part of the Colorado Adoption Project, 133 sibling pairs (69 biologically related pairs and 64 unrelated pairs in adoptive families) completed a general loneliness scale when they were 9, 10, 11, and 12 years old. As part of the San Diego Sibling Study, 142 sibling pairs (22 monozygotic twin, 40 dizygotic twin, and 80 full-sibling pairs) between the ages of 8 and 14 years old completed a scale assessing loneliness at school. Both studies showed significant heritability and nonshared environmental influences for children's loneliness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Experience Producing Drive Theory: how genes drive experience and shape personality.

There is now a large body of evidence from twin and adoption studies linking genetic variation to phenotypic variation on virtually all human individual differences. Individuals unquestionably influence the nature of their experiences, e.g. high-sensation seekers surround themselves with like-minded peers and seek out quite different experiences than low-sensation seekers. We propose a theory called Experience Producing Drive Theory-Revised, to account for the current findings in behavior genetics. This theory is based on the Darwinian view that complex organisms are active agents "designed" by natural selection to survive in the environments in which they evolved. The theory assumes that the behavior of complex organisms can best be understood in terms of motives, preferences and emotional responses that have evolved to drive specific behavioral patterns. We propose a number of ways in which this theory might be falsified.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Genetic analysis of the circadian system in Drosophila melanogaster and mammals.

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been a grateful object for circadian rhythm researchers over several decades. Behavioral, genetic, and molecular studies helped to reveal the genetic bases of circadian time keeping and rhythmic behaviors. Contrary, mammalian rhythm research until recently was mainly restricted to descriptive and physiologic approaches. As in many other areas of research, the surprising similarity of basic biologic principles between the little fly and our own species, boosted the progress of unraveling the genetic foundation of mammalian clock mechanisms. Once more, not only the basic mechanisms, but also the molecules involved in establishing our circadian system are taken or adapted from the fly. This review will try to give a comparative overview about the two systems, highlighting similarities as well as specifics of both insect and murine clocks.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Stability of inbred mouse strain differences in behavior and brain size between laboratories and across decades.

If we conduct the same experiment in two laboratories or repeat a classical study many years later, will we obtain the same results? Recent research with mice in neural and behavioral genetics yielded different results in different laboratories for certain phenotypes, and these findings suggested to some researchers that behavior may be too unstable for fine-scale genetic analysis. Here we expand the range of data on this question to additional laboratories and phenotypes, and, for the first time in this field, we formally compare recent data with experiments conducted 30-50 years ago. For ethanol preference and locomotor activity, strain differences have been highly stable over a period of 40-50 years, and most strain correlations are in the range of r = 0.85-0.98, as high as or higher than for brain weight. For anxiety-related behavior on the elevated plus maze, on the other hand, strain means often differ dramatically across laboratories or even when the same laboratory is moved to another site within a university. When a wide range of phenotypes is considered, no inbred strain appears to be exceptionally stable or labile across laboratories in any general sense, and there is no tendency to observe higher correlations among studies done more recently. Phenotypic drift over decades for most of the behaviors examined appears to be minimal.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

A genetic analysis of stereotypy in the mouse: dopaminergic plasticity following chronic stress.

After repeated stressful experiences, DBA/2 (DBA) mice showed an increase in apomorphine-induced climbing while C57BL/6 (C57) mice showed a clear-cut decrease of this behavior. Genetic analysis involving F1 and F2 hybrids and the backcross populations (F1 X C57; F1 X DBA) indicated complete dominance of the C57 genotype and a significant genotype X environment interaction. These findings are discussed in terms of dopaminergic plasticity and of the heuristic value of this animal model in relation to disturbed behaviors triggered by stressful experiences.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Home-cage activity in heterogeneous stock (HS) mice as a model of baseline activity.

Behavioral genetic work in humans indicates that clinical hyperactivity is best viewed as the extreme end of activity levels in the population. However, current animal models of hyperactivity are not studied as quantitative traits as they are either knockout models or inbred strains. Furthermore, these animal models generally demonstrate elevated locomotion in novel environments, but not in their home-cages. This is the opposite of the symptoms seen in the human condition where childhood hyperactivity is generally more pronounced in constant, unstimulating situations. In this study we filmed an outbred population of 44 heterogeneous stock (HS) mice under red light during their active phase, to assess the reliability of individual differences in home-cage behavior and extract an index of home-cage activity (HCA) level. We then compared this measure to locomotor behavior in a novel environment--the open-field. Reliable individual differences in home-cage behaviors such as running, swinging on bars, and burrowing were found, and principal component factor analysis yielded a general activity factor, which accounted for 32% of the variance and correlated 0.90 with a subjective impression of activity level. The correlation between HCA and locomotor activity in the open-field was 0.23, which was non-significant. However, the association with HCA level appeared to increase over the five minutes of the open-field, presumably as the mice habituated. Furthermore, although mice displaying particularly high and low HCA were indistinguishable early in the open-field task, they became significantly differentiated over time. We conclude that home-cage behaviors and the open-field, after habituation, display good face and construct validity, and may provide a good model of baseline activity for quantitative trait loci (QTL) discovery and functional genomics in the HS mice.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Twin concordance for dishonorable discharge from the military: with a review of the genetics of antisocial behavior.

It has been hypothesized that there is a genetic component to antisocial behavior. To test this hypothesis, twin concordance for dishonorable discharge from the US military was examined among 15,924 twin pairs in the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council (NAS-NRC) Twin Registry, all of whom served in the US military. Of 62 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, at least one of whom had received a dishonorable discharge, one pair (1.6%) was concordant for dishonorable discharge; of 47 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, seven (14.9%) were concordant for dishonorable discharge. Concordance rates for dishonorable discharge were significantly greater for MZ vDZ twin pairs. Concordances for dishonorable discharge were not confounded by co-diagnoses of alcoholism. The results are discussed in light of research findings suggesting a genetic component to antisocial behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[The special genetics of the chicken].

Studies on inheritance of a number of traits, peculiarities of the karyotype, and chromosome mapping in chicken are reviewed. Prominent among these are studies on behavioral genetics, which are performed at different levels and in different aspects: neuromuscular apparatus and entire organism, behavior and population structure, and behavior and individual fecundity. Creation of lines that differed in neural reactivity provided a model for study of systemic control of cytogenetic processes. On the basis of data on genetic control of feather color, a hypothesis was proposed concerning the mechanism of action of the eumelanin suppressor gene. In the Department of Genetics and Breeding of St. Petersburg State University, research was reformed on the relationships between hereditary and non-hereditary variability, as well as the determination and realization of the genotype reaction norm. In the framework of this research, a study on the variability of chicken growth was performed. A single short-term cooling of chickens during the first week of life resulted in a prolonged (up to eight-week) alteration of growth rate. The following structural genes were mapped in chicken mitotic chromosomes by the method of in situ hybridization: the gene for the transferrin receptor, the beta-globin gene cluster, the homologues of the human ZFY and SRY gene families, the viral oncogene v-fos, and a TG-rich minisatellite.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Steps during the development of the zebrafish locomotor network.

This review summarizes recent data from our lab concerning the development of motor activities in the developing zebrafish. The zebrafish is a leading model for studies of vertebrate development because one can obtain a large number of transparent, externally and rapidly developing embryos with motor behaviors that are easy to assess (e.g. for mutagenic screens). The emergence of embryonic motility was studied behaviorally and at the cellular level. The embryonic behaviors appear sequentially and include an early, transient period of spontaneous, alternating tail coilings, followed by responses to touch, and swimming. Patch clamp recording in vivo revealed that an electrically coupled network of a subset of spinal neurons generates spontaneous tail coiling, whereas a chemical (glutamatergic and glycinergic) synaptic drive underlies touch responses and swimming and requires input from the hindbrain. Swimming becomes sustained in larvae once serotonergic neuromodulatory effects are integrated. We end with a brief overview of the genetic tools available for the study of the molecular determinants implicated in locomotor network development in the zebrafish. Combining genetic, behavioral and cellular experimental approaches will advance our understanding of the general principles of locomotor network assembly and function.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

The independent prediction of general intelligence by elementary cognitive tasks: genetic and environmental influences.

Current theories of intelligence have, in some cases, begun to include elementary cognitive tasks. Behavioral genetic studies of intelligence have not taken these theories into account. The current study includes 135 MZ and 128 DZ twin pairs from the Western Reserve Twin Project. The 11 WISC-R subtests as well as 6 elementary cognitive tasks were employed. Using a Schmid-Leiman (1957) transformation, analyses indicate a four-group factor model, supported by a second-order general factor at both phenotypic and biometric levels. Results indicate that the general factor, group factors, and specific residuals are necessary when examining additive genetic variance. Common environmental variance can be collapsed into a single general factor.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

All about me.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Aptitude↗
PubMed1996

Cleft-twin sets in Finland 1948-1987.

Extensive review of the literature since 1884 on cleft-twin sets yielded 364 cleft-twin sets. Of these, 118 were monozygotic (MZ) and 246 dizygotic (DZ) sets. In addition, Danish material on cleft twins, like our Finnish material, reflects the total number of clefts and cleft twins on a well-defined population during a well-defined time interval. Both sets of material also contain slightly over 100 pairs of twins. The Danish material and the literature review were compared to the Finnish material. The hospital records of all Finnish patients with operated clefts who were born between 1948 and 1987 were reviewed. Information was gathered regarding each patient, his parents, the pregnancy, and his twin or triplet siblings and other siblings. This search produced 105 sets of twins and three sets of triplets with clefts, 15 sets of twins being concordant regarding clefting. This resulted in a total of 120 cleft siblings, and the corrected cleft incidence of 1.72 promille, close to the overall cleft incidence rate in Finland between 1948 and 1975. Twinning was found to be associated neither with an increased nor with a decreased risk of clefting, and clefting could not be seen to increase twinning. Zygosity could be verified in 88 sets of twins; the total number of MZ sets was 17, and of DZ was 71, a 19% MZ rate. Although a higher incidence of clefting in MZ-twin sets has been proposed, no such higher or lower incidence could be found in our material. Recognized syndromes were found in 15 sets (14%), slightly higher than found in a large Finnish study on cleft probands (8.4%). Of these, three sets were monozygotic (MZ), all of them cleft palate (CP) and male sets, whereas eight sets were dizygotic (DZ). All 15 sets were CP only, with no one set with cleft lip and palate [CL(P)]. In our total Finnish-twin material of 105 sets, we found the CL(P)/CP ratio to be 39/66 (37%/63%). In all of the 120 affected siblings, the ratio was 35%/65%. The very high rate of 63% of CP twins is about two to three times higher than that reported in the literature of 364 sets where the CP ratio is 23%; compared to the Danish material with a CP ratio of 17%, it is almost four-fold. The overall CP rate in all clefts (not restricted to twins) in Finland compared to the rate in our neighboring Scandinavian countries was very much in line with this very big difference seen in the CP rate in our twin material. The CL(P) incidence in our Finnish material is 0.61 promille and the CP incidence 1.11 promille. For MZCL(P), the incidence was 0.38 promille; for MZCP, 0.91 promille; for DZCL(P), 0.52 promille, and for DZCP, 0.99 promille. Compared to the Danish figures both the MZCP and DZCP incidence figures are nearly four-fold, with the MZCL(P) somewhat lower, and DZCL(P) less than half that number. The sex distribution of all cleft patients in our material was 44% male/56% female. Both in the Danish material and in the literature, it was the reverse. This difference is probably due mostly to the higher ratio of CP in the Finnish material. The CP group has a higher proportion of females in all these materials. The concordance (C) of the whole Finnish-twin material is 14%, compared to 16.5% reported in the literature and 8% for the Danish twins. The concordance for CL(P) in our material is many times lower (2.6%) than in the literature (17.1%) and in the Danish material (8%). In the Finnish twins, the C for CP is higher (17%) than that for the Danish (6%) and for the literature cleft-twin populations (14.3%). This is also true for the MZ and DZ subgroups. The heritability index (H) in CL(P) is lower for the Finns (17%) than for the Danish (45%) and for the literature materials (43%), and higher for CP (Finns 49%, Danish 33%, literature 36%). All of these data strongly suggest the quite different genetic behavior of both CL(P) and CP in Finland, with a much lower genetic component in the CL(P) and a higher in the CP.

Cleft Lip↗
PubMed2001

Behavioral phenotypes of genetic syndromes: a reference guide for psychiatrists.

OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on behavioral phenotypes of genetic syndromes, displaying the data as a reference guide for everyday practice. METHOD: A computerized search was performed for articles published in the past 10 years, and selected papers were surveyed. RESULTS: The behavioral phenotypes of 11 major genetic syndromes were reviewed including the following topics: genetic etiology, genetic counseling, physical features, medical problems, cognitive and behavioral profile, and psychopathology. The speculated correlation between the identified gene and the pathophysiology of the cognitive and behavioral features is discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Updated knowledge of behavioral phenotypes will help psychiatrists identify these conditions, refer the patient and his/her family for genetic diagnosis and counseling, make specific treatment recommendations, and contribute to research and syndrome delineation.

Child↗