Abstract
To trace the genetic determinants of exploratory behaviour in house mice, I started a programme of selective breeding1. Using the F2 generation from a cross between the inbred strains C57BL/6J and DBA/2J as the foundation population, male mice were selected bidirectionally for frequency of exploratory rearing responses displayed in a novel environment. To transfer alleles responsible for high rearing scores from the C57BL strain to the DBA genetic background, selection was combined with repeated backcrossing to DBA females over five consecutive generations. A comparable procedure has been used by Chai2 for body size in mice. Since these early stages of the selection aimed at developing two lines of mice with similar genetic backgrounds, but differing for loci affecting rearing behaviour, no unselected control line was bred; the DBA strain could serve as this.
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ABEELEN, J. Genetic analysis of behavioural responses to novelty in mice. Nature 254, 239–241 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/254239a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/254239a0
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