Can you be born a couch potato?(chers tested the second generation (f2) ...)

Date:7/16/2008

chers tested the second generation (f2) of offspring for activity using three measurements -- speed, endurance and distance and found a range of significant differences among the new hybrid mice in their overall activity levels. The team then performed genetic tests on the mice and found significant correlations between differences in their genomes and the behavioral variations.

The team identified six locations on the mouse chromosome where differences had a strong relationship to activity, indicating at least six genes that individually can affect activity. A second genetic study found seventeen other genetic locations that were also having an effect on activity levels by interacting with each other.

While differences in activity could not be exclusively connected to genetics, a surprisingly large amount of the activity difference in the hybrids about half had a strong relationship to the specific genetic variations identified.

"We don't know yet what the genes involved in activity are doing, but there is some strong suggestion that many of them may be involved in regulating dopamine," Lightfoot noted. "In one sense it is very similar to a model for genetic influences on ADD."

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Contact: James Hathaway jbhathaw@uncc.edu 704-687-6675 University of North Carolina at Charlotte Source:Eurekalert

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