Touchscreen learning deficits in Ube3a, Ts65Dn and Mecp2 mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities
Abstract
Mutant mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities provide useful translational research tools, especially in cases where robust cognitive deficits are reproducibly detected. However, motor, sensory, and/or health issues consequent to the mutation may introduce artifacts that preclude testing in some standard cognitive assays. Touchscreen learning and memory tasks in small operant chambers have the potential to circumvent these confounds. Here we employ touchscreen visual discrimination learning to evaluate performance in the maternally derived Ube3a mouse model of Angelman syndrome...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Prescott T. Leach, Jacqueline N. Crawley Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Decreased Cerebral Irp ‐1B Limits Impact of Social Isolation in Wildtype and Alzheimer's Disease Modelled in Drosophila melanogaster
Abstract
Environmental factors, such as housing conditions and cognitively stimulating activities, have been shown to affect behavioral phenotypes and to modulate neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting cognitive functions. Epidemiological evidence and experimental studies using rodent models have indicated that social interaction reduces development and progression of disease. Drosophila models of Aβ42‐associated AD lead to AD‐like phenotypes, such as long‐term memory impairment, locomotor and survival deficits, while effects of environ...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Christina Ruland, Johannes Berlandi, Kristin Eikmeier, Till Weinert, Fang Ju Lin, Oliver Ambree, Jochen Seggewiss, Werner Paulus, Astrid Jeibmann Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Role of RNA Modifications in Brain and Behavior
We present evidence for the existence of an “RNA code”, similar to the histone code, that fine‐tunes gene expression in the nervous system by using combinations of different RNA modifications. Unlike the relatively stable genetic code, this combinatorial RNA epigenetic code, or epitranscriptome, may be dynamically reprogrammed as a cause or consequence of psychiatric disorders. We discuss potential mechanisms linking disregulation of the epitranscriptome with brain disorders and identify potential new avenues of research. (Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior)
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Kornel E. Schuebel, Yonwoo Jung, David Goldman Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research
Evaluation of visual motion perception ability in mice with knockout of the dyslexia candidate susceptibility gene Dcdc2
Abstract
Developmental dyslexia is a heritable disability characterized by difficulties in learning to read and write that cannot be explained by comorbid factors such as intellectual impairment, lack of educational opportunity, or other neurological disorders (e.g. epilepsy or primary sensory impairments (blindness, deafness)). Dyslexia is considered a common neurodevelopmental disorder, affecting 5%‐12% of the population (Lyon, Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2003; Peterson & Pennington, 2012). It is also a highly heterogeneous disorder, with varied intermediate phenotypes, that include visual and cross‐modal integratio...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Amanda R. Rendall, Peter A. Perrino, Joseph J. LoTurco, R. Holly Fitch Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Single point mutation on the gene encoding dysbindin results in recognition deficits
In this study, we examined dysbindin salt and pepper (spp) mice that possess a single point mutation on the Dtnbp1 gene predicted to reduce, but not eliminate, dysbindin expression. By western blot analysis, we found that spp homozygous (spp ‐/‐) mutants had reduced dysbindin and synaptosomal‐associated protein 25 (SNAP‐25) in the prefrontal cortex, but unaltered levels in hippocampus. Behaviorally, spp mutants performed comparably to controls on a wide range of tasks assessing locomotion, anxiety, spatial recognition, and working memory. However, spp ‐/‐ mice had selective deficits in tasks measuring novel obj...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Eric H. Chang, Kayla Fernando, Lok Wan E. Yeung, Kristina Barbari, Toni ‐Shay S. Chandon, Anil K. Malhotra Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
COMT Val158Met moderates the link between rank and aggression in a non ‐human primate
This study represents an important step towards understanding individual variation in aggression in a wild primate population and may inform human behavioral geneticists about the evolutionary roots of inter‐individual variation in aggression. (Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior)
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Daria Raffaella Gutleb, Christian Roos, Angela Noll, Julia Ostner, Oliver Sch ülke Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research
Post ‐genomic behavioral genetics: From revolution to routine
What was once expensive and revolutionary—full genome sequence—is now affordable and routine. Costs will continue to drop, opening up new frontiers in behavioral genetics. This shift in costs from the genome to the phenome is most notable in large clinical studies of behavior and associated diseases in cohorts that exceed hundreds of thousands of subjects. Examples include the Women's Health Initiative (www.whi.org), the Million Veterans Program (www.research.va.gov/MVP), the 100,000 Genomes Project (genomicsengland.co.uk), and commercial efforts such as those by deCode (www.decode.com) and 23andme (www.23andme.com). T...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: David G. Ashbrook, Megan K. Mulligan, Robert W. Williams Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research
Kinase interest you in treating incubated cocaine ‐craving? A hypothetical model for treatment intervention during protracted withdrawal from cocaine
A diagnostic criterion for drug addiction, persistent drug‐craving continues to be the most treatment‐resistant aspect of addiction that maintains the chronic, relapsing, nature of this disease. Despite the high prevalence of psychomotor stimulant addiction, there currently exists no FDA‐approved medication for craving reduction. In good part, this reflects our lack of understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of drug‐craving. In humans, cue‐elicited drug‐craving is associated with the hyper‐excitability of prefrontal cortical regions. Rodent models of cocaine addiction indicate that a history of exc...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Karen K. Szumlinski, Christina B. Shin Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research
Perinatal nutrition interacts with genetic background to alter behavior in a parent ‐of‐origin dependent manner in adult Collaborative Cross mice
Previous studies in animal models and humans have shown that exposure to nutritional deficiencies in the perinatal period increases the risk of psychiatric disease. Less well understood is how such effects are modulated by the combination of genetic background and parent‐of‐origin. To explore this, we exposed female mice from 20 Collaborative Cross (CC) strains to either protein deficient, vitamin D deficient, methyl donor enriched or standard diet during the perinatal period. These CC females were then crossed to a male from a different CC strain to produce reciprocal F1 hybrid females comprising 10 distinct genetic b...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: SA Schoenrock, D Oreper, J Farrington, RC McMullan, R Ervin, DR Miller, F Pardo ‐Manuel de Villena, W Valdar, LM Tarantino Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Beyond the response – high throughput behavioral analyses to link genome to phenome in Caenorhabditis elegans
The development and application of methods for automated behavioral analysis have revolutionized behavioral genetics across model organisms. In this review we summarize the history of automated behavioral analysis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We highlight recent studies of learning and memory to exemplify just how complex the genetic and neural circuit mechanisms underlying a seemingly simple single behavioral response can be. We finish by looking forward at the exciting prospects of combing genomic technologies with connectomic and phenomic level measurements. (Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior)
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - November 1, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Troy A. McDiarmid, Alex J. Yu, Catharine H. Rankin Tags: Review Source Type: research
Experience ‐dependent neural plasticity, learning, and memory in the era of epitranscriptomics
Genes, Brain and Behavior, EarlyView. (Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior)
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - October 20, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
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Genes, Brain and Behavior, Ahead of Print. (Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior)
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - October 20, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research
The Contribution of Alternative Splicing to Genetic Risk for Psychiatric Disorders
A genetic contribution to psychiatric disorders has clearly been established and genome‐wide association studies now provide the location of risk genes and genetic variants associated with risk. However, the mechanism by which these genes and variants contribute to psychiatric disorders is mostly undetermined. This is in part because non‐synonymous protein coding changes cannot explain the majority of variants associated with complex genetic traits. Based on this, it is predicted that these variants are causing gene expression changes, including changes to alternative splicing. Genetic changes influencing alternative s...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - October 20, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Emma Reble, Aidan Dineen, Cathy L. Barr Tags: Review Source Type: research
QTL mapping and analysis of heritable variation in affiliative social behavior and related traits
Humans exhibit broad heterogeneity in affiliative social behavior. Twin and family studies demonstrate that individual differences in core dimensions of social behavior are heritable, yet there are knowledge gaps in understanding the underlying genetic and neurobiological mechanisms. Animal genetic reference panels (GRPs) provide a tractable strategy for examining the behavioral and genetic architecture of complex traits. Here, using males from 50 mouse strains from the BXD GRP, four domains of affiliative social behavior—social approach, social recognition, direct social interaction (partner sniffing), and vocal communi...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - October 20, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Allison T. Knoll, Kevin Jiang, Pat Levitt Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Experience ‐dependent neural plasticity, learning, and memory in the era of epitranscriptomics
Abstract
In this short review, we highlight recent findings in the emerging field of epitranscriptomic mechanisms and discuss their potential role in neural plasticity, learning and memory. These include the influence of RNA modifications on activity‐induced RNA structure states, RNA editing and RNA localization, and how qualitative state changes in RNA increase the functional diversity and information‐carrying capacity of RNA molecules. We predict that RNA modifications may be just as important for synaptic plasticity and memory as quantitative changes in transcript and protein abundance, but with the added advantage ...
Source: Genes, Brain and Behavior - October 20, 2017 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: L. J. Leighton, K. Ke, E. L. Zajaczkowski, J. Edmunds, R. C. Spitale, T. W. Bredy Tags: REVIEW Source Type: research
