Abstract
The role of Y chromosome in sex determination and male fertility is well established. It is also known that infertile men are prone to psychological disturbances. Earlier studies in the laboratory identified genes expressed in testes that are putatively regulated by Y chromosome in man and mouse. With the availability of a Y-deleted mouse model, that is subfertile, we studied the effect of a partial deletion of Y-chromosomal heterochromatin on mouse behavior when compared to its wild type. The partial Y-deleted mice exhibited anxiety like phenotype under stress when different anxiety (open field test and elevated plus maze, EPM test) and depression related tests (tail suspension and force swim) were performed. The mutant mice also showed reduction in hippocampal neurogenesis and altered expression of neurogenesis markers such as Nestin, Sox2, Gfap, NeuroD1 and Dcx using quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) analysis. The genes with altered expression contained short stretches of homology to Y-derived transcripts only in their Untranslated Regions (UTRs). Our study suggests putative regulation of these genes by the Y chromosome in mouse brain altering stress related behavior.
Highlights
The differences between male and female of any species is well established
To check if there is any basic difference in general mood status of XYRIIIqdel mice from the XYRIIIqdel mice as compared to wild type (XYRIII), we performed few specific anxiety and depression (Tail suspension and forced swim) tests
We observed behavioral anomalies pertaining to stress in a strain of mouse with partial deletion of Y-heterochromatin
Summary
The differences between male and female of any species is well established. They differ with respect to morphology, physiology, behavior and the male/female determining chromosomes (Lovell-Badge, 2005). Some Y-chromosomal genes like Sry and a few noncoding RNAs are expressed both in testes and in brain (Mayer et al, 2000; Reisert et al, 2002). Such Y-chromosomal genes could affect male behavior. There are conflicting reports on the effect of Y chromosome on aggressive behavior in mice (Roubertoux et al, 1994; Guillot and Chapouthier, 1998; Sluyter et al, 1999). A number of reproductive behaviors are affected by the male specific region in the Y chromosome (Guillot and Chapouthier, 1998). Several studies show that overexpression of Y chromosome leads to the development of aggressive phenotype (Miczek et al, 2001)
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