Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on May 4, 2009.

Genetics, Vol. 182, 889-897, July 2009, Copyright © 2009
doi:10.1534/genetics.109.101691

Quantitative Trait Loci for Aggressive Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Alexis C. Edwards1 and Trudy F. C. Mackay2

Department of Genetics and W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695

2 Corresponding author: Department of Genetics, Campus Box 7614, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7614 USA Phone: 919-515-5810 Fax: 919-515-3355
E-mail: trudy_mackay{at}ncsu.edu

Aggressive behavior is observed across animal taxa and is likely to be evolutionarily conserved. Although potentially advantageous, aggression can have social and health consequences in humans, and is a component of a number of psychiatric disorders. As a complex genetic trait, it is modulated by numerous quantitative trait loci (QTL) with allelic effects that can vary in direction and magnitude and that are sensitive to environmental perturbations. Assays to quantify aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster have been developed, making this an ideal model system in which to dissect the genomic architecture underlying manifestation of and variation in aggressive behavior. Here, we map QTL affecting variation in aggression between two wild-type Drosophila strains. We identified a minimum of five QTL in a genomewide scan: two on chromosome 2 and three on chromosome 3. At least three and possibly all five of these QTL interact epistatically. We used deficiency complementation mapping to subdivide two linked, epistatically interacting QTL of large effect on chromosome 3 into at least six QTL, and complementation tests to mutations identified four candidate quantitative trait genes. Extensive epistasis poses a serious challenge for understanding the genetic basis of complex traits.


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Genetics 2009 182: NP. [Full Text]