Variation in vasopressin receptor (Avpr1 a) expression creates diversity in behaviors related to monogamy in prairie voles

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Catherine E. Barrett, Emory University; Alaine C. Keebaugh, Emory University; Todd H. Ahern, Emory University; Caroline E. Bass, Harvard University; Ernest F. Terwilliger, Harvard University; Larry Young, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2013-03-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.01.005
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Hormones and Behavior
• ISSN: 0018-506X
• Volume: 63
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 518
• End Page: 526
• Grant/Funding Information: Additional support was provided by the National Center for Research Resources P51RR165 to YNPRC, which is currently supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD P51OD11132.; This work was supported by NIH grants MH056897 and MH064692 to LJY; and an NSF Predoctoral Fellowship to CEB.
• Keywords: Pair bond; RNAi; MATERNAL-BEHAVIOR; Science & Technology; Evolution; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Behavioral Sciences; ANXIETY-RELATED BEHAVIOR; V1A RECEPTOR; Vasopressin; Microtus ochrogaster; ALLOPARENTAL BEHAVIOR; PAIR-BOND FORMATION; PARTNER PREFERENCE; MICROTUS-OCHROGASTER; AFFILIATIVE BEHAVIORS; Endocrinology & Metabolism; SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION; ELEVATED PLUS-MAZE; Ventral pallidum
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Polymorphisms in noncoding regions of the vasopressin 1a receptor gene (Avpr1a) are associated with a variety of socioemotional characteristics in humans, chimpanzees, and voles, and may impact behavior through a site-specific variation in gene expression. The socially monogamous prairie vole offers a unique opportunity to study such neurobiological control of individual differences in complex behavior. Vasopressin 1a receptor (V1aR) signaling is necessary for the formation of the pair bond in males, and prairie voles exhibit greater V1aR binding in the reward-processing ventral pallidum than do asocial voles of the same genus. Diversity in social behavior within prairie voles has been correlated to natural variation in neuropeptide receptor expression in specific brain regions. Here we use RNA interference to examine the causal relationship between intraspecific variation in V1aR and behavioral outcomes, by approximating the degree of naturalistic variation in V1aR expression. Juvenile male prairie voles were injected with viral vectors expressing shRNA sequences targeting Avpr1a mRNA into the ventral pallidum. Down-regulation of pallidal V1aR density resulted in a significant impairment in the preference for a mated female partner and a reduction in anxiety-like behavior in adulthood. No effect on alloparenting was detected. These data demonstrate that within-species naturalistic-like variation in V1aR expression has a profound effect on individual differences in social attachment and emotionality. RNA interference may prove to be a useful technique to unite the fields of behavioral ecology and neurogenetics to perform ethologically relevant studies of the control of individual variation and offer insight into the evolutionary mechanisms leading to behavioral diversity.