1
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Zipple MN, Zhao I, Kuo DC, Lee SM, Sheehan MJ, Zhou W. Ecological Realism Accelerates Epigenetic Aging in Mice. Aging Cell 2025:e70098. [PMID: 40396452 DOI: 10.1111/acel.70098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2024] [Revised: 04/11/2025] [Accepted: 04/23/2025] [Indexed: 05/22/2025] Open
Abstract
The aging of mammalian epigenomes fundamentally alters cellular functions, and such changes are the focus of many healthspan and lifespan studies. However, studies of this process typically use mouse models living under standardized laboratory conditions and neglect the impact of variation in social, physical, microbial, and other aspects of the living environment on age-related changes. We examined differences in age-associated methylation changes between traditionally laboratory-reared mice from Jackson Laboratory and "rewilded" C57BL/6J mice, which lived in an outdoor field environment at Cornell University with enhanced ecological realism. Systematic analysis of age-associated methylation dynamics in the liver indicates a genomic region-conditioned, faster epigenetic aging rate in mice living in the field than those living in the lab, implicating perturbed 3D genome conformation and liver function. Altered epigenetic aging rates were more pronounced in sites that gain methylation with age, including sites enriched for transcription factor binding related to DNA repair. These observations underscore the overlooked role of the social and physical environment in epigenetic aging with implications for both basic and applied aging research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew N Zipple
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Ivan Zhao
- Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Daniel Chang Kuo
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Sol Moe Lee
- Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Michael J Sheehan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Wanding Zhou
- Center for Computational and Genomic Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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2
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Zipple MN, Chang Kuo D, Meng X, Reichard TM, Guess K, Vogt CC, Moeller AH, Sheehan MJ. Competitive social feedback amplifies the role of early life contingency in male mice. Science 2025; 387:81-85. [PMID: 39745972 DOI: 10.1126/science.adq0579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 11/08/2024] [Indexed: 01/04/2025]
Abstract
Contingency (or "luck") in early life plays an important role in shaping individuals' development. By comparing the developmental trajectories of functionally genetically identical free-living mice who either experienced high levels of resource competition (males) or did not (females), we show that competition magnifies early contingency. Male resource competition results in a feedback loop that magnifies the importance of early contingency and pushes individuals onto divergent, self-reinforcing life trajectories, while the same process appears absent in females. Our results indicate that the strength of sexual selection may be self-limiting, and they highlight the potential for contingency to lead to differences in life outcomes, even in the absence of any underlying differences in ability ("merit").
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew N Zipple
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Daniel Chang Kuo
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Xinmiao Meng
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Tess M Reichard
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Kwynn Guess
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Caleb C Vogt
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Andrew H Moeller
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Michael J Sheehan
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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3
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Will I, Stevens EJ, Belcher T, King KC. 'Re-Wilding' an Animal Model With Microbiota Shifts Immunity and Stress Gene Expression During Infection. Mol Ecol 2025; 34:e17586. [PMID: 39529601 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2024] [Revised: 10/23/2024] [Accepted: 10/28/2024] [Indexed: 11/16/2024]
Abstract
The frequency of emerging disease is growing with ongoing human activity facilitating new host-pathogen interactions. Novel infection outcomes can also be shaped by the host microbiota. Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes experimentally colonised by a wild microbiota community and infected by the widespread animal pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, have been shown to suffer higher mortality than those infected by the pathogen alone. Understanding the host responses to such microbiota-pathogen ecological interactions is key to pinpointing the mechanism underlying severe infection outcomes. We conducted transcriptomic analyses of C. elegans colonised by its native microbiota, S. aureus and both in combination. Correlations between altered collagen gene expression and heightened mortality in co-colonised hosts suggest the microbiota modified host resistance to infection. Furthermore, microbiota colonised hosts showed increased expression of immunity genes and variable expression of stress response genes during infection. Changes in host immunity and stress response could encompass both causes and effects of severe infection outcomes. 'Re-wilding' this model nematode host with its native microbiota indicated that typically commensal microbes can mediate molecular changes in the host that are costly when challenged by a novel emerging pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Will
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Emily J Stevens
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- School of Life Sciences, Keele University, Newcastle-under-Lyme, UK
| | | | - Kayla C King
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
- Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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4
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Battivelli D, Fan Z, Hu H, Gross CT. How can ethology inform the neuroscience of fear, aggression and dominance? Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:809-819. [PMID: 39402310 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00858-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/20/2024] [Indexed: 11/20/2024]
Abstract
The study of behaviour is dominated by two approaches. On the one hand, ethologists aim to understand how behaviour promotes adaptation to natural contexts. On the other, neuroscientists aim to understand the molecular, cellular, circuit and psychological origins of behaviour. These two complementary approaches must be combined to arrive at a full understanding of behaviour in its natural setting. However, methodological limitations have restricted most neuroscientific research to the study of how discrete sensory stimuli elicit simple behavioural responses under controlled laboratory conditions that are only distantly related to those encountered in real life. Fortunately, the recent advent of neural monitoring and manipulation tools adapted for use in freely behaving animals has enabled neuroscientists to incorporate naturalistic behaviours into their studies and to begin to consider ethological questions. Here, we examine the promises and pitfalls of this trend by describing how investigations of rodent fear, aggression and dominance behaviours are changing to take advantage of an ethological appreciation of behaviour. We lay out current impediments to this approach and propose a framework for the evolution of the field that will allow us to take maximal advantage of an ethological approach to neuroscience and to increase its relevance for understanding human behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorian Battivelli
- Epigenetics & Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Monterotondo, Italy
| | - Zhengxiao Fan
- School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hailan Hu
- School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Cornelius T Gross
- Epigenetics & Neurobiology Unit, EMBL Rome, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Monterotondo, Italy.
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5
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Hille M, Kühn S, Kempermann G, Bonhoeffer T, Lindenberger U. From animal models to human individuality: Integrative approaches to the study of brain plasticity. Neuron 2024; 112:3522-3541. [PMID: 39461332 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2024] [Revised: 06/02/2024] [Accepted: 10/04/2024] [Indexed: 10/29/2024]
Abstract
Plasticity allows organisms to form lasting adaptive changes in neural structures in response to interactions with the environment. It serves both species-general functions and individualized skill acquisition. To better understand human plasticity, we need to strengthen the dialogue between human research and animal models. Therefore, we propose to (1) enhance the interpretability of macroscopic methods used in human research by complementing molecular and fine-structural measures used in animals with such macroscopic methods, preferably applied to the same animals, to create macroscopic metrics common to both examined species; (2) launch dedicated cross-species research programs, using either well-controlled experimental paradigms, such as motor skill acquisition, or more naturalistic environments, where individuals of either species are observed in their habitats; and (3) develop conceptual and computational models linking molecular and fine-structural events to phenomena accessible by macroscopic methods. In concert, these three component strategies can foster new insights into the nature of plastic change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maike Hille
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Center for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Simone Kühn
- Center for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany, and London, UK
| | - Gerd Kempermann
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Dresden, Germany; CRTD - Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Tobias Bonhoeffer
- Synapses-Circuits-Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Martinsried, Germany
| | - Ulman Lindenberger
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany, and London, UK.
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6
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Bartolomucci A, Tung J, Harris KM. The fortunes and misfortunes of social life across the life course: A new era of research from field, laboratory and comparative studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105655. [PMID: 38583652 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2024] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Accepted: 04/03/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Social gradients in health and aging have been reported in studies across many human populations, and - as the papers included in this special collection highlight - also occur across species. This paper serves as a general introduction to the special collection of Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews entitled "Social dimensions of health and aging: population studies, preclinical research, and comparative research using animal models". Authors of the fourteen reviews are primarily members of a National Institute of Aging-supported High Priority Research Network on "Animal Models for the Social Dimensions of Health and Aging". The collection is introduced by a foreword, commentaries, and opinion pieces by leading experts in related fields. The fourteen reviews are divided into four sections: Section 1: Biodemography and life course studies; Section 2: Social behavior and healthy aging in nonhuman primates; Section 3: Social factors, stress, and hallmarks of aging; Section 4: Neuroscience and social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Bartolomucci
- Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada; Duke Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
| | - Kathleen Mullan Harris
- Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
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7
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Downie AE, Barre RS, Robinson A, Yang J, Chen YH, Lin JD, Oyesola O, Yeung F, Cadwell K, Loke P, Graham AL. Assessing immune phenotypes using simple proxy measures: promise and limitations. DISCOVERY IMMUNOLOGY 2024; 3:kyae010. [PMID: 39045514 PMCID: PMC11264049 DOI: 10.1093/discim/kyae010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2024] [Revised: 05/25/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/25/2024]
Abstract
The study of immune phenotypes in wild animals is beset by numerous methodological challenges, with assessment of detailed aspects of phenotype difficult to impossible. This constrains the ability of disease ecologists and ecoimmunologists to describe immune variation and evaluate hypotheses explaining said variation. The development of simple approaches that allow characterization of immune variation across many populations and species would be a significant advance. Here we explore whether serum protein concentrations and coarse-grained white blood cell profiles, immune quantities that can easily be assayed in many species, can predict, and therefore serve as proxies for, lymphocyte composition properties. We do this in rewilded laboratory mice, which combine the benefits of immune phenotyping of lab mice with the natural context and immune variation found in the wild. We find that easily assayed immune quantities are largely ineffective as predictors of lymphocyte composition, either on their own or with other covariates. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio show the most promise as indicators of other immune traits, but their explanatory power is limited. Our results prescribe caution in inferring immune phenotypes beyond what is directly measured, but they do also highlight some potential paths forward for the development of proxy measures employable by ecoimmunologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander E Downie
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Ramya S Barre
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio; San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Annie Robinson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Jennie Yang
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Ying-Han Chen
- Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Department of Microbiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Jian-Da Lin
- Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
- Center for Computational and Systems Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Oyebola Oyesola
- Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Frank Yeung
- Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
| | - Ken Cadwell
- Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Department of Microbiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - P’ng Loke
- Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine at the Skirball Institute, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Department of Microbiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine; New York, NY, USA
- Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Andrea L Graham
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Santa Fe Institute; Santa Fe, NM, USA
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Zipple MN, Kuo DC, Meng X, Reichard TM, Guess K, Vogt CC, Moeller AH, Sheehan MJ. Sex-specific competitive social feedback amplifies the role of early life contingency in male mice. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.19.590322. [PMID: 38659792 PMCID: PMC11042324 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.19.590322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Contingency (or 'luck') in early life plays an important role in shaping individuals' development. When individuals live within larger societies, social experiences may cause the importance of early contingencies to be magnified or dampened. Here we test the hypothesis that competition magnifies the importance of early contingency in a sex-specific manner by comparing the developmental trajectories of genetically identical, free-living mice who either experienced high levels of territorial competition (males) or did not (females). We show that male territoriality results in a competitive feedback loop that magnifies the importance of early contingency and pushes individuals onto divergent, self-reinforcing life trajectories, while the same process appears absent in females. Our results indicate that the strength of sexual selection may be self-limiting, as within-sex competition increases the importance of early life contingency, thereby reducing the ability of selection to lead to evolution. They also demonstrate the potential for contingency to lead to dramatic differences in life outcomes, even in the absence of any underlying differences in ability ('merit').
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9
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Sapolsky R. Making sense of the costs of adversity throughout the lifespan on aging in humans and other animals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 159:105571. [PMID: 38316195 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Social adversity, particularly early in life, can cause lifelong damage to health; by now, numerous studies examine this relationship in non-human species, producing some important themes: A) Captive animals readily lack ethological validity, giving a special place to studies of natural populations; one must appreciate though, that animal studies typically benefit humans who themselves lack ecological validity, namely Westernized subjects. B) Animal studies of the links between social adversity and psychiatric maladies potentially produce anthropomorphism; however, long-term study of our closest relatives demonstrates how convincingly another primate can, for example, experience grief, rather than display "grief-like" behavior. C) Are long-term consequences of social adversity best viewed as maladaptive and pathological, or as adaptive preparation for similar adversity later in life?; the growing literature casts light on when adversity's consequences are the purview of medicine or natural history. D) Studies examining sustained adversity and aging can increasingly distinguish between aging versus diseases of aging or cohort effects, and between aging effects arising from direct physiological mechanisms or indirect behavioral ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Sapolsky
- Departments of Biology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Stanford University, United States.
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10
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Zipple MN, Vogt CC, Sheehan MJ. Genetically identical mice express alternative reproductive tactics depending on social conditions in the field. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240099. [PMID: 38503332 PMCID: PMC10950460 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
In many species, establishing and maintaining a territory is critical to survival and reproduction, and an animal's ability to do so is strongly influenced by the presence and density of competitors. Here we manipulate social conditions to study the alternative reproductive tactics displayed by genetically identical, age-matched laboratory mice competing for territories under ecologically realistic social environmental conditions. We introduced adult males and females of the laboratory mouse strain C57BL/6J into a large, outdoor field enclosure containing defendable resource zones under one of two social conditions. We first created a low-density social environment, such that the number of available territories exceeded the number of males. After males established stable territories, we introduced a pulse of intruder males and observed the resulting defensive and invasive tactics employed. In response to this change in social environment, males with large territories invested more in patrolling but were less effective at excluding intruder males as compared with males with small territories. Intruding males failed to establish territories and displayed an alternative tactic featuring greater exploration as compared with genetically identical territorial males. Alternative tactics did not lead to equal reproductive success-males that acquired territories experienced greater survival and had greater access to females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew N. Zipple
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Caleb C. Vogt
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Michael J. Sheehan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
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11
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Ding SS, Fox JL, Gordus A, Joshi A, Liao JC, Scholz M. Fantastic beasts and how to study them: rethinking experimental animal behavior. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb247003. [PMID: 38372042 PMCID: PMC10911175 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.247003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Humans have been trying to understand animal behavior at least since recorded history. Recent rapid development of new technologies has allowed us to make significant progress in understanding the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying behavior, a key goal of neuroethology. However, there is a tradeoff when studying animal behavior and its underlying biological mechanisms: common behavior protocols in the laboratory are designed to be replicable and controlled, but they often fail to encompass the variability and breadth of natural behavior. This Commentary proposes a framework of 10 key questions that aim to guide researchers in incorporating a rich natural context into their experimental design or in choosing a new animal study system. The 10 questions cover overarching experimental considerations that can provide a template for interspecies comparisons, enable us to develop studies in new model organisms and unlock new experiments in our quest to understand behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyu Serena Ding
- Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jessica L. Fox
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Andrew Gordus
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Abhilasha Joshi
- Departments of Physiology and Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - James C. Liao
- Department of Biology, The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL 32080, USA
| | - Monika Scholz
- Max Planck Research Group Neural Information Flow, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar, 53175 Bonn, Germany
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12
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Choi JD, Kumar V. A new era in quantification of animal social behaviors. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 157:105528. [PMID: 38160721 PMCID: PMC11100991 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica D Choi
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, United States
| | - Vivek Kumar
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME 04609, United States.
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13
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Zipple MN, Vogt CC, Sheehan MJ. Genetically Identical Mice Express Alternative Reproductive Tactics Depending on Social Conditions in the Field. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.25.542282. [PMID: 37577669 PMCID: PMC10418070 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.25.542282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
In many species, establishing and maintaining a territory is critical to survival and reproduction, and an animal's ability to do so is strongly influenced by the presence and density of competitors. Here we manipulate social conditions to study the alternative reproductive tactics displayed by genetically identical, age-matched laboratory mice competing for territories under ecologically realistic social environmental conditions. We introduced adult males and females of the laboratory mouse strain (C57BL/6J) into a large, outdoor field enclosure containing defendable resource zones under one of two social conditions. We first created a low-density social environment, such that the number of available territories exceeded the number of males. After males established stable territories, we introduced a pulse of intruder males and observed the resulting defensive and invasive tactics employed. In response to this change in social environment, males with large territories invested more in patrolling but were less effective at excluding intruder males as compared to males with small territories. Intruding males failed to establish territories and displayed an alternative tactic featuring greater exploration as compared to genetically identical territorial males. Alternative tactics did not lead to equal reproductive success-males that acquired territories experienced greater survival and had greater access to females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew N. Zipple
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
| | - Caleb C. Vogt
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
| | - Michael J Sheehan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
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