Abstract
FEMALES from some inbred strains of Mus musculus, in a state of induced oestrus, when allowed to choose between a male of their own strain and another of a different strain, prefer to associate and mate with males of the different strain. This phenomenon was studied by Mainardi1 in the C57BL and Swiss strains, and by us (ref. 2 and unpublished results) in the strains BALB/Ibg, DBA/Ibg, C57BL/Ibg, C57BL/J and C3H/J. Our study suggested the existence of a polymorphism for female mating preference, since females from the BALB/Ibg and C3H/J strains mated at random. Observations of the behaviour of females reared with foster fathers showed that a major determinant of mating preference is a “paternal effect”. DBA/Ibg males, due to their genotype, provide social stimuli which induce a tendency in their daughters for mating preference for unlike males, whereas BALB/Ibg males do not induce any tendency for mating preference in their daughters.
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References
Mainardi, D., Atti Assoc. Genet. It., 9, 141 (1964).
Yanai, J., and McClearn, G. E., Behav. Genet., 2, No. 2/3 173 (1972).
McClearn, G. E., Wilson, J. R., and Meredith, W., in Contributions to Behavior-Genetic Analysis: The Mouse as a Prototype (edit. by Lindzey, G., and Thiessen, D. D.) (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1970).
Lindzey, G., Amer. Psychol., 22, 1051 (1967).
Lowther, J. K., Canad. J. Psychol., 39, 281 (1961).
Sheppard, P. M., Heredity, 6, 239 (1952).
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YANAI, J., MCCLEARN, G. Assortative Mating in Mice and the Incest Taboo. Nature 238, 281–282 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/238281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/238281a0
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