hide
Free keywords:
-
Abstract:
Animals show behavioral traits that can collectively be called personality
and can be measured by standardized tests. We have studied
the Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) gene region which includes two
clusters of tandem repeats coding for small nucleolar RNAs,
SNORD115 and SNORD116. SNORD115 is known to regulate
splicing of the serotonin receptor Ht2cr and SNORD116 is predicted
to interact with the transcript of the chromatin regulator Ankrd11. In
this study we showed that both snoRNA clusters display major copy
number variation within and between populations and that this affects
the expression of more than 130 genes which are themselves known
to be involved in a variety of pathways including serotonin regulation,
metabolism, cognitive ability, vocalization and craniofacial
feature development. Using a set of behavioral scores related to
personality in populations of two species of wild mice, guinea pigs
and humans, we find a strong correlation between the snoRNA copy
number and these scores. These results also suggested the co evolution
of personality and other traits such as metabolism, cognitive
ability, vocalization and craniofacial feature. As conclusion, this
study suggests that the SNORD clusters in the PWS region are major
regulators of personality and correlated traits. This finding
is very unexpected, since it suggests the existence of a major
control locus for basic behavioral traits, with an inbuilt
mechanism to ensure variance in behavioral strategies within a
population.
