Cerebellar Morphology and Behavioral Profiles in Mice Lacking Heparan Sulfate Gene Function.

Disruption of the Heparan sulfate (HS)-biosynthetic gene N-acetylglucosamine N-Deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase 1 () during nervous system development causes malformations that are composites of those caused by mutations of multiple HS binding growth factors and morphogens. However, the role of function in adult brain physiology is less explored. Therefore, we generated mice bearing a Purkinje-cell-specific deletion in gene function by using Cre/loxP technology under the control of the Purkinje cell protein 2 (Pcp2/L7) promotor, which results in HS undersulfation.

The hologenome concept: we need to incorporate function.

Are we in the midst of a paradigm change in biology and have animals and plants lost their individuality, i.e., are even so-called 'typical' organisms no longer organisms in their own right? Is the study of the holobiont-host plus its symbiotic microorganisms-no longer optional, but rather an obligatory path that must be taken for a comprehensive understanding of the ecology and evolution of the individual components that make up a holobiont? Or are associated microbes merely a component of their host's environment, and the holobiont concept is just a beautiful idea that does not add much or anything to our understanding of evolution? This article explores different aspects of the concept of the holobiont.

The Unexpected Effects of Beneficial and Adverse Social Experiences during Adolescence on Anxiety and Aggression and Their Modulation by Genotype.

Anxiety and aggression are part of the behavioral repertoire of humans and animals. However, in their exaggerated form both can become maladaptive and result in psychiatric disorders. On the one hand, genetic predisposition has been shown to play a crucial modulatory role in anxiety and aggression.

Benefits of adversity?! How life history affects the behavioral profile of mice varying in serotonin transporter genotype.

Behavioral profiles are influenced by both positive and negative experiences as well as the genetic disposition. Traditionally, accumulating adversity over lifetime is considered to predict increased anxiety-like behavior ("allostatic load"). The alternative "mismatch hypothesis" suggests increased levels of anxiety if the early environment differs from the later-life environment.

Benefits of a "vulnerability gene"? A study in serotonin transporter knockout mice.

Over the past years, certain "vulnerability genes" have been identified that play a key role in the development of mood and anxiety disorders. In particular, a low-expressing variant of the human serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene has been described that renders individuals more susceptible to adverse experience and hence to the development of psychiatric diseases. However, some authors have recently argued that lower 5-HTT expression not only increases vulnerability to adverse experiences, but also enhances susceptibility to beneficial experiences, thus promoting phenotypic plasticity.

Hope for the best or prepare for the worst? Towards a spatial cognitive bias test for mice.

Cognitive bias, the altered information processing resulting from the background emotional state of an individual, has been suggested as a promising new indicator of animal emotion. Comparable to anxious or depressed humans, animals in a putatively negative emotional state are more likely to judge an ambiguous stimulus as if it predicts a negative event, than those in positive states. The present study aimed to establish a cognitive bias test for mice based on a spatial judgment task and to apply it in a pilot study to serotonin transporter (5-HTT) knockout mice, a well-established mouse model for the study of anxiety- and depression-related behavior.