Access

News and Views

Nature 448, 999-1000 (30 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature05892; Published online 29 August 2007

naturejobs

More science jobs
Post a job for free

Behavioural neurobiology: Females can also be from Mars

Nirao M. Shah1 & S. Marc Breedlove2

Top

Is the preference to mate as a male or a female irreversibly set during development? Apparently not: a study in mice shows that pheromone perception determines how an adult female behaves sexually.

We perceive gender as a core characteristic, generally unwavering in almost any social context. So we regard gender differences in behaviour as reflecting irrevocable, pervasive differences in the adult brain of the two sexes1, rather than the flip of a switch between male or female behavioural repertoires.

  1. Nirao M. Shah is in the Department of Anatomy, University of California, San Francisco, 1550 4th Street, MC2722, San Francisco, California 94158, USA.
    Email: nms@ucsf.edu
  2. S. Marc Breedlove is in the Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, 108 Giltner Hall, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
    Email: breedsm@msu.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Odor here, odor there: chemosensation and reproductive function

Nature Neuroscience News and Views (01 Dec 2005)

Defending the brain from estrogen

Nature Neuroscience News and Views (01 Feb 2006)

RESEARCH

A functional circuit underlying male sexual behaviour in the female mouse brain

Nature Article (30 Aug 2007)

Deficits in sexual and aggressive behaviors in Cnga2 mutant mice

Nature Neuroscience Brief Communication (01 Dec 2005)