Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays.
Female mice ultrasonically interact with males during courtship displays.
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DOI：
10.7554/elife.06203
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发表时间：
2015-05-28
期刊：
影响因子：
7.7
通讯作者：
Egnor SE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Neunuebel JP;Taylor AL;Arthur BJ;Egnor SE
在求偶期间，雄性会用复杂的行为吸引雌性。在老鼠身上，这些表现包括超声波发声。超声波求爱的声音以前被认为是雄性求爱的声音，尽管有证据表明两性发出的声音几乎无法区分。由于这种相似性，以及给个体分配发声的困难，每个个体在求偶期间的发声贡献是未知的。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了一个麦克风阵列系统来定位来自社会互动的个体成年小鼠的发声。通过这个系统，我们发现雌性老鼠在求偶期间会与雄性老鼠进行声音互动。雄性和雌性在追逐过程中共同提高了发声率。此外，雌性参与这些声音互动可能是一种信号，表明一种接受能力增强的状态。我们的研究结果揭示了老鼠求偶过程中声音交流的一种新形式，并为社会行为中交流的机械解剖奠定了基础。DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06203.001雄性鸣禽以唱歌吸引配偶而闻名，许多其他动物也把发出声音作为交配仪式的一部分。例如，众所周知，雄性老鼠在向雌性求爱时会发出尖锐的声音，但这些声音超出了人类的听觉范围。雌性老鼠的气味足以引起雄性老鼠开始“唱歌”，而雌性老鼠则被雄性老鼠的歌声所吸引。许多研究已经调查了这些歌曲是如何影响老鼠的交配行为的。但研究人员并不总是容易分辨出这对老鼠中哪只发出了声音，因为老鼠在唱歌时没有明显的动作。Neunuebel等人现在使用许多紧密排列在一起的麦克风来精确定位在一个装满老鼠的笼子里唱歌的个体。出乎意料的是，这种方法揭示了雌鼠在求爱时加入雄鼠的歌声。长期以来，人们一直认为只有雄性老鼠会唱歌来表达它们的求偶兴趣，这一发现挑战了这一观点，并表明以前的研究可能错误地将雌性老鼠的声音归因于雄性老鼠。Neunuebel等人的研究表明，当一只雄性老鼠追逐一只雌性老鼠时，两只老鼠都可能唱歌。当雌性唱歌时，它们会放慢速度；这使得雄性更容易捕捉到它们。然而，对雄鸟鸣叫没有反应的雌鸟会跟上节奏。这表明，这首歌可能是雌性老鼠表明她对与求婚者交配感兴趣的一种方式。下一步将是测量雌鸟发出的声音是否会随着求婚者的身份而改变。先前的研究表明，当雌性老鼠与自己选择的雄性配对时，它们会生出更多、更健康的幼崽，而不是随机的雄性。同样的麦克风阵列现在可以用来观察雌性老鼠在与它们喜欢的雄性和不喜欢的雄性配对时是否会“说”不同的话。DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06203.002
During courtship males attract females with elaborate behaviors. In mice, these displays include ultrasonic vocalizations. Ultrasonic courtship vocalizations were previously attributed to the courting male, despite evidence that both sexes produce virtually indistinguishable vocalizations. Because of this similarity, and the difficulty of assigning vocalizations to individuals, the vocal contribution of each individual during courtship is unknown. To address this question, we developed a microphone array system to localize vocalizations from socially interacting, individual adult mice. With this system, we show that female mice vocally interact with males during courtship. Males and females jointly increased their vocalization rates during chases. Furthermore, a female's participation in these vocal interactions may function as a signal that indicates a state of increased receptivity. Our results reveal a novel form of vocal communication during mouse courtship, and lay the groundwork for a mechanistic dissection of communication during social behavior. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06203.001 Male songbirds are famous for using singing to attract mates, and many other animals also make noises as part of their mating rituals. Male mice, for example, are known to make high-pitched noises as they court females—but these noises are beyond the range of human hearing. The scent of female mice is enough to cause male mice to start ‘singing’, and female mice are attracted to the male's song. Many studies have examined how these songs affect the mating behavior of the mice. But it was not always easy for a researcher to tell which mouse in the pair was making the sounds, because the mice make no obvious movements when they sing. Neunuebel et al. have now used many microphones arranged closely together to accurately pinpoint the singing individuals in a cage full of mice. Unexpectedly, this approach revealed that female mice join the males in song when courting. This challenges the long held belief that only male mice sing to communicate their courtship interests, and suggests that previous studies may have incorrectly attributed sounds from female mice as coming from males instead. Neunuebel et al. showed that as a male mouse pursues a female, both may sing. When females sing, they slow down; this makes it easier for the male to catch them. Females who don't respond to the male's song, however, keep up the pace. This suggests the song may be a way for the female mouse to indicate that she is interested in mating with her suitor. The next step will be to measure whether the noises that a female makes change depending on the identity of the suitor. Previous research has shown that female mice have more and healthier pups when they are paired with a male that they choose as opposed to a random male. The same microphone array could now be used to see whether female mice ‘say’ different things when paired with a male they like versus a male they don’t. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06203.002