RT Journal Article
T1 Aggressive behavior in cattle is associated with a polymorphism in the MAOA gene promoter
A1 Eusebi, P. G.
A1 Sevane Fernández, Natalia
A1 Cortés Gardyn, Óscar
A1 Contreras, E
A1 Cañón Ferreras, Francisco Javier
A1 Dunner Boxberger, Helene Susana
AB Molecular mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior are primitive and similar among the subphylum Vertebrata. In humans, a primary goal in the study of aggression is to determine the neurobehavioral molecular factors triggering violence. Although several species have been used to study agonistic responses, researchers are limited by the difficulty of artificially inducing aggression in animals not selected for it. Conversely, the Lidia cattle breed has been selected since the eighteenth century to display agonistic responses based on traits such as aggressiveness, ferocity and mobility, all of them showing significant heritability values. This intensive selection may have driven shifts in specific allele frequencies. In a previous analysis across the autosomes, we revealed long-term selection regions including genes involved in behavioral development. In the present study, we focus on mapping recent signatures of selection associated with aggressiveness at chromosome X, by comparing Lidia cattle samples with two non-specialized Spanish breeds showing tamed behavior. The most significant markers peaked around the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, and thus the associations of three functionally important regions located near the promoter of this gene were further investigated. A polymorphism consisting of a variable number of tandem repeats of the nucleotide ‘C’ (BTX:105,462,494) and displaying lower number of repetitions in the Lidia breed when compared with the tamed breeds was detected. In silico analyses predicted that the g.105,462,494delsinsC variant may code for the Sp1 binding motif, one of the major transcription factors controlling the core promoter and expression of the MAOA gene in humans.
PB Wiley
SN 0268-9146
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109890
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/109890
LA eng
NO Eusebi, P.G., Sevane, N., Cortés, O., Contreras, E., Cañon, J. and Dunner, S. (2020), Aggressive behavior in cattle is associated with a polymorphism in the MAOA gene promoter. Anim Genet, 51: 14-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/age.12867
DS Docta Complutense
RD 28 abr 2025