The genetic determinisms of aggressive behavior

Le résumé fourni par la source

In mice, aggression has a genetic component that acts in concert with environmental factors. Furthermore, inter-individual differences for the propensity to attack are partly attributable to allelic variants located on both the non-pseudoautosomal and recombinant regions of the mouse Y chromosome. However, no nucleotide change in a Y chromosome gene has yet been found to account for a behavior difference. Interspecies comparisons of aggressive behavior reveals some similarities between primates and mice, including both the existence of sexual dimorphism (males being more aggressive than females) and inter- male differences. Measures of aggression in primates and rodents were compared. The data supporting Y chromosome-specific factors in murine aggression are principally from reciprocal crosses, in which the strain of origin of the male parent predicts behavior. The human data derive from a Y-haplotype association study conducted in a Finnish popula- tion. T ype II alcoholism and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are commonly associ- ated in men in Swedish and American populations. Whereas Y chromosome variations account for individual differences in alcohol dependence in Finnish population, results failed to show an association between a Y chromosome haplotype and ASPD. Relevance of murine attack behavior to human aggression is discussed. The hypothesis that Y chro- mosome gene variation is responsible for behavioral variation now requires direct testing at the gene sequence level. The genes located on the Y chromosome are TSPY, RPS4Y, TDF, ZFY, PRKY, AZF1, BPY, DBY, HY, and RNM, and it is these genes whose allelic variants could influence inter-individual behavioral variations. Of particular interest for primate behavioral variation may be RPS4Y because this ribosomal protein subunit gene does not have a Y chromosome counterpart in rodents. Both humans and rodents have an RPS4X gene, but the RPS4Y gene could be a primate-distinct origin of sexual dimorphism and intermale behavioral variation.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.