Misiewicz, Z et al. PLoS Genet. 15, e1008358 (2019)

Little is known about the pathways underlying individual differences in stress responses. Using the chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) model to develop anxiety in male mice, a team of investigators applied a multi-omics approach to compare the molecular signatures of two inbred strains, the stress-resilient C57BL/6NCrl (B6) and the stress-susceptible DBA/2NCrl (D2). Their analysis revealed that CSDS induces changes in the expression of mitochondrial-related genes and proteins in blood cells and in the nucleus of the stria terminalis, a brain region that has been associated with anxiety; the pattern of differential expression was opposite in the B6 and D2 mouse strains. These findings suggest that mitochondrial-related pathways control stress responses and could be targeted to treat anxiety disorders.