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Behavioural genetics

Taming of the vole

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 5, page 560 (2004)Cite this article

Voles are ideal for studying social behaviour as different species of vole show different levels of social attachment. For example, male prairie voles are faithful creatures that seek close physical contact with their mates and care for their young, in contrast to their more promiscuous relatives, meadow voles, who live more solitary lives and give minimal care to their young.

Vasopressin and dopamine are thought to be key signals that regulate the extent of attachment between animals. In fact, vasopressin 1a receptors (V1aRs) are more abundant in the ventral forebrain — part of the brain's reward system — in male prairie voles than in male meadow voles. Using viral vector-mediated gene transfer, Lim et al. showed that increasing the expression of V1aR in the ventral forebrain of male meadow voles caused them to spend more time with their original female partner after sex and to spurn other females, in contrast to control animals. Moreover, the authors show that dopamine has an important role in this behaviour, as blocking dopamine receptors in meadow voles, as previously shown in prairie voles, cancels out the effects of V1aR overexpression.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Lim, M. M. et al. Enhanced partner preference in a promiscuous species by manipulating the expression of a single gene. Nature 429, 754–757 (2004)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Insel, T. R. & Young, L. J. The neurobiology of attachment. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 2, 129–136 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Balaban, E. Why voles stick together. Nature 429, 711–712 (2004)

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Authors
  1. Alison Rowan
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Larry Young's laboratory

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Rowan, A. Taming of the vole. Nat Rev Genet 5, 560 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1411

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