Self-grooming and sibling recognition in meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, and prairie voles,M.ochrogaster

2002 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Paz-Y-Miño C ◽  
Stuart T. Leonard ◽  
Michael H. Ferkin ◽  
Josephine F. Trimble
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Sibling Recognition

Mechanisms of sibling recognition in meadow voles

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Ferkin ◽  
Timothy F. Rutka
Keyword(s):  
Agonistic Behavior ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Phenotype Matching ◽  
Sibling Recognition

The purpose of this study was to determine whether sibling recognition in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) resulted from familiarity through common rearing or from identification of kin via phenotype matching. The first experiment clearly demonstrated that sibling recognition occurs among meadow voles. Individuals preferred the odor of familiar siblings to the odor of unfamiliar nonsiblings, and agonistic acts were less frequent between sibling than between nonsibling dyads. The second experiment examined whether sibling recognition resulted from familiarity and genetic relatedness. Meadow voles preferred the odor of littermates to the odor of nonlittermates. Full siblings do not share olfactory cues or signatures unique to that litter. Meadow voles behaved agonistically toward unfamiliar full siblings, but not toward familiar nonsiblings. Reduced agonistic behavior between and preferences for littermates versus nonlittermates, independently of genetic relatedness, suggest that among meadow voles sibling recognition is based on prior association through common rearing.

Sources of scent used by prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster, to convey sexual identity to conspecifics

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 2205-2209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Ferkin ◽  
Frederick H. Ferkin ◽  
Milo Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Microtus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Microtus Ochrogaster ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Microtine Rodents ◽  
Preference Task ◽  
Anogenital Area ◽  
Specific Odor ◽  
Head Neck

The presence or absence of specific odor-producing tissues has been used to suggest phylogenetic relationships among microtine rodents, but has not been related to patterns of social organization. We examined the sources of sex-specific scents in prairie voles, Microtus ochrogaster, using a preference task. Prairie voles have eight sources of sex-specific scents. Four scents, namely those from the urine, feces, anogenital area, and mouth were more attractive to opposite- than same-sex conspecifics. Three scents were attractive to one sex but not the other. Scent from the back of females was attractive to males and scents from the chest and head–neck–ears of males were attractive to females. Scent from the male posterolateral region was attractive to both females and males. We then compared these eight sources of scent with the known sources of scent from meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus, a species whose social system is unlike that of prairie voles. Prairie voles have more sources of sex-specific scent than meadow voles. This difference supports the hypothesis that the number of sources of sex-specific scent is greater in a social species (prairie voles) than in an asocial species (meadow voles).

scholarly journals Comparative neurotranscriptomics reveal widespread species differences associated with bonding

BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel A. Tripp ◽  
Alejandro Berrio ◽  
Lisa A. McGraw ◽  
Mikhail V. Matz ◽  
Jamie K. Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Brain Region ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Species Differences ◽  
Cell Structure ◽  
Bond Formation ◽  
Pair Bonding ◽  
Prairie Voles ◽  
Meadow Voles ◽  
Time Points

Abstract Background Pair bonding with a reproductive partner is rare among mammals but is an important feature of human social behavior. Decades of research on monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), along with comparative studies using the related non-bonding meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus), have revealed many of the neural and molecular mechanisms necessary for pair-bond formation in that species. However, these studies have largely focused on just a few neuromodulatory systems. To test the hypothesis that neural gene expression differences underlie differential capacities to bond, we performed RNA-sequencing on tissue from three brain regions important for bonding and other social behaviors across bond-forming prairie voles and non-bonding meadow voles. We examined gene expression in the amygdala, hypothalamus, and combined ventral pallidum/nucleus accumbens in virgins and at three time points after mating to understand species differences in gene expression at baseline, in response to mating, and during bond formation. Results We first identified species and brain region as the factors most strongly associated with gene expression in our samples. Next, we found gene categories related to cell structure, translation, and metabolism that differed in expression across species in virgins, as well as categories associated with cell structure, synaptic and neuroendocrine signaling, and transcription and translation that varied among the focal regions in our study. Additionally, we identified genes that were differentially expressed across species after mating in each of our regions of interest. These include genes involved in regulating transcription, neuron structure, and synaptic plasticity. Finally, we identified modules of co-regulated genes that were strongly correlated with brain region in both species, and modules that were correlated with post-mating time points in prairie voles but not meadow voles. Conclusions These results reinforce the importance of pre-mating differences that confer the ability to form pair bonds in prairie voles but not promiscuous species such as meadow voles. Gene ontology analysis supports the hypothesis that pair-bond formation involves transcriptional regulation, and changes in neuronal structure. Together, our results expand knowledge of the genes involved in the pair bonding process and open new avenues of research in the molecular mechanisms of bond formation.

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