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Rapid Selection Response for Contextual Fear Conditioning in a Cross Between C57BL/6J and A/J: Behavioral, QTL and Gene Expression Analysis

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Abstract

We used short-term selection to produce outbred mouse lines with differences in contextual fear conditioning. Within two generations of selection all low selected mice were homozygous for the recessive tyrc allele and showed the corresponding albino coat color. Freezing differed in the high and low selected lines across a range of parameters. We identified several QTLs for the selection response, including a highly significant QTL at the tyr locus (p < 9.6−10). To determine whether the tyrc allele was directly responsible for the response to selection, we examined B6 mice that have a mutant tyr allele (tyrc−2j−) and an AJ congenic strain that has the wild-type B6 allele for tyr. These studies showed that the tyr allele had a small influence on fear learning. We used Affymetrix microarrays to identify many differentially expressed genes in the amygdala and hippocampus of the selected lines. We conclude that tyr is one of many alleles that influence fear conditioning.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Dr. Greta Sokoloff for her scientific input during the preparation of this manuscript. This work was supported by MH70933, MH79103, T32GM07088, T32GM07839, a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Summer Fellowship, a NARSAD young investigator award and a Schweppe Foundation Career Development Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Rockefeller University, 1230 York Ave, P.O. Box 288, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Christine A. Ponder

  2. Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, 920 E. 58th St. CLSC 507, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Chetan P. Huded, Michaelanne B. Munoz, T. Conrad Gilliam & Abraham A. Palmer

  3. Committee on Neurobiology, University of Chicago, 920 E. 58th St. CLSC 507, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Forrest O. Gulden

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  1. Christine A. Ponder
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  2. Chetan P. Huded
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  3. Michaelanne B. Munoz
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  4. Forrest O. Gulden
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  5. T. Conrad Gilliam
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  6. Abraham A. Palmer
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Correspondence to Abraham A. Palmer.

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Edited by Stephen Maxson.

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Ponder, C.A., Huded, C.P., Munoz, M.B. et al. Rapid Selection Response for Contextual Fear Conditioning in a Cross Between C57BL/6J and A/J: Behavioral, QTL and Gene Expression Analysis. Behav Genet 38, 277–291 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-008-9203-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-008-9203-6

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