Thus, our data do not support the participation of Oxt in the previously reported QTL. However, a contribution of the oxytocin peptide in the impaired maternal behavior of LG/J mothers cannot be ruled out given that we did not investigate the expression on different time points, nor posttranscriptional modifications that could lead to reduced peptide levels, or alternatively,

alter the status of oxytocin receptors in the mammary glands or brains of these animals. A role for FosB gene in maternal behavior was suggested by studies using mice lacking this gene (Brown et al. 1996). FosB knockout females show deficits in pup retrieval and poor nest-building behavior, which we similarly observed in LG/J females. FosB is located #BLZ945 manufacturer keyword# within the single QTL interval reported for chromosome 7 in a LG/J × SM/J intercross (Peripato et al. 2002). The sequencing analyses performed in the present study revealed no variation in FosB exons between the two strains. The single insertion found in intron 1 in LG/J animals did not impact FosB expression Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical levels in the hypothalamus, making it unlikely that FosB participates in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the observed variation in maternal

care between SM/J and LG/J females. There is, however, another strong candidate gene in the QTL on chromosome 7, identified by Peripato et al. (2002). This gene is Peg3, which also has previously been shown to have a direct association with maternal care. Peg3 knockout females show similar types of abnormal maternal care as FosB knockout females, in addition to lactation problems, anxious behavior, and lower locomotor activity (Li et al. 1999; Champagne et al. 2009). LG/J mothers share many of these behavioral and physiological traits. Comparison of the Peg3 sequences Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical between SM/J and LG/J revealed four nonsynonymous substitutions and an increased number of 30-bp (10 aa) tandem Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical repeats in exon

9. This sequence repeats three times in the SM/J strain and five times in the LG/J strain. These extra copies in LG/J Peg3 exon 9 may impact the protein structure and consequently its function. These findings raised the possibility that these gene variations may be associated with the differing maternal phenotypes observed between SM/J and LG/J dams. We focused on the exon 9 Peg3 in/del variation to further investigate an association of genotype and maternal care as judged by offspring survival. In order to address this question, we analyzed Ergoloid F2 females derived from a LG/J × SM/J intercross. We found that heterozygous F2 females showed, on average, impaired maternal care when compared to homozygous females. These results are in line with our previous findings on the underdominant nature of the QTL at the proximal end of chromosome 7; that is, heterozygote females provide poor maternal care when compared to the parental genotypes (homozygote for SM/J or LG/J alleles) (Peripato et al. 2002).