Behavioral and Morphological Variation in Garter Snakes: The Role of Genes and Hormones

KING 9409464基因和激素强烈影响动物的行为和形态。因此，两者都可能在个体之间、种群之间和物种之间产生行为和形态上的差异方面发挥重要作用。不幸的是，关于基因和荷尔蒙之间相互作用的信息普遍缺乏。这项研究通过关注基因和激素对吊袜蛇行为的影响来满足这一需求。这项研究结合了数量遗传学和内分泌学的方法，通过将激素操作与分析实验室饲养的吊袜带蛇家族内部和家族之间的行为、形态和激素变化相结合。由于荷尔蒙对行为和形态的影响可能在出生前发生，因此这些分析将包括关于发育中的后代的宫内荷尔蒙环境的数据。为了确定在实验室中观察到的模式是否与在自然界中看到的模式相似，将对野生吊袜带蛇进行比较分析。了解行为和形态变异产生的机制在生物学中具有基本意义。这项研究将通过回答以下问题来帮助理解这种理解：(1)行为和形态上的遗传差异是否通过激素机制调节？(2)激素是否同时影响多个性状，从而产生性状之间的相关性？(3)引起个体差异的过程是否与引起性别差异的过程相同？这项研究的结果可能广泛适用于各种生物体。这项研究的遗传原理适用于所有有机体，研究中的激素过程对所有脊椎动物都是相似的。随着进一步的研究，这项研究可能会有广泛的应用，从评估释放到环境中的类似激素的化学物质的影响到治疗影响激素途径的基因紊乱。

King 9409464 Genes and hormones strongly influence animal behavior and morphology. As a consequence both are likely to be important in producing differences in behavior and morphology among individuals, among populations, and among species. Unfortunately, information on the interplay between genes and hormones in generally lacking. This study addresses this need by focusing on the effects of genes and hormones on the behavior on the behavior of the garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis. The research combines methods from quantitative genetics and endocrinology by coupling hormone manipulations with analyses of behavioral, morphological, and hormonal variation within and among families of laboratory-reared garter snakes. Because hormonal influences on behavior and morphology may occur before birth, data on the in utero hormonal environment of developing offspring will be included in these analyses. To determine whether patterns observed in the laboratory parallel those seen in nature, a comparable analysis of wild-caught garter snakes will conducted. Understanding the mechanisms by which variation in behavior and morphology arise is of basic significance in biology. This research will contribute to such an understanding by answering questions such as: (1) Is genetic variation in behavior and morphology mediated through hormonal mechanisms? (2) Do hormones affect multiple traits simultaneously, thus generating correlations among traits? (3) Are the processes giving rise to variation among individuals the same as those giving rise to differences between genders? The results from this research are likely to be broadly applicable to a wide variety of organisms. The genetic principles underlying this research hold for all organisms and the hormonal processes under investigation are similar for all vertebrates. With further study, this research may have applications ranging from assessment of the effects of hormone-mimicking chemicals released into the environment to treatment of geneti c disorders affecting hormonal pathways.