Aggressive behavior in cattle is associated with a polymorphism in the
            
              MAOA
            
            gene promoter

AbstractBackgroundAn astonishing observation is that aggressive behavior is actually a highly heritable. Recent experimental work and behavior research has linked individual variation in a functional polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase-A gene (MAOA) to the occurrence of anger-driven aggression. Aggressive antisocial and violent behavior has become a regularly debated topic in the scientific community; the impending question is what is the source of aggressive behavior, is it genetic or environmental or is it just an individual choice. This study aims to analyses the SNPs found in MAOA gene and it is possible association to aggressive behavior.MethodVarious bioinformatics software (SIFT, PolyPhen-2, PROVEAN, SNAP22, SNP&GO and PMut)is used to analyses the SNPs within the MAOA gene to study the structural and functional implication on the associated protein, which is further clarified using chimera software. Then gene-gene interaction is studied with geneMANIA software. Furthermore, conservation and annotation studies were done through the ConSurf server and Variant Effect Predictor (VEP) respectively.ResultSix missense SNPs were found to affect the structural and functional prospect of MAOA protein.ConclusionGenetic mutation within MAOA is likely to be associated with aggressive behavior; this will enrich future management and screening possibilities for this behavior.

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Identification of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Porcine MAOA Gene Associated with Aggressive Behavior of Weaned Pigs after Group Mixing

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani9110952 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 952 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ruonan Chen ◽

Qingpo Chu ◽

Chunyan Shen ◽

Xian Tong ◽

Siyuan Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Aggressive Behavior ◽

Promoter Activity ◽

Monoamine Oxidase A ◽

Luciferase Reporter ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Weaned Pigs ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

Mutant Genotype ◽

Maoa Gene

Understanding the genetic background underlying the expression of behavioral traits has the potential to fasten the genetic progress for reduced aggressive behavior of pigs. The monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene is known as the “warrior” gene, as it has been previously linked to aggressive behavior in humans and livestock animals. To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms in porcine MAOA gene associated with aggressive behavior of pigs, a total of 500 weaned pigs were selected and mixed in 51 pens. In each pen, two aggressive and two docile pigs (a total of 204 pigs) were selected based on their composite aggressive score (CAS). Ear tissue was sampled to extract genomic DNA. Constructs containing variable lengths of truncated porcine MAOA promoter were used to determine the promoter activity by a dual luciferase reporter system. The core promoter region was located at −679 bp to −400 bp. A total of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MAOA gene were genotyped, of which six SNPs had significant differences (p < 0.05) in allele frequency between the aggressive and docile pigs. Linkage disequilibrium and association analyses showed that the pigs inherited the wild genotypes showed more aggressive behavior (p < 0.05) than pigs with the mutant genotypes of the four linked SNPs, rs321936011, rs331624976, rs346245147, and rs346324437. In addition, pigs of GCAA haplotype were more (p < 0.05) aggressive than the pigs with GCGA or ATGG haplotype. The construct containing the wild genotype GG of rs321936011 had lower (p = 0.031) promoter activity compared to the mutant genotype AA. These results suggest that the four linked SNPs in MAOA gene could be considered as a molecular marker for behavioral trait selection in pigs.

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