Social and maternal behavior in mesoderm specific transcript (Mest)-deficient mice

Mesoderm specific transcript ( Mest )/paternally expressed gene-1 ( Peg1 ) is an imprinted gene expressed predominantly from the paternal allele. Aberrations in maternal behavior were previously reported in a Mest global knockout mouse ( Mest tm1Masu ). In this study, we performed in-depth social an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one 2022-07, Vol.17 (7), p.e0271913-e0271913
Main Authors:	Anunciado-Koza, Rea P, Stohn, J. Patrizia, Hernandez, Arturo, Koza, Robert A
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Alleles Analysis Animal behavior Behavior Biology and Life Sciences Body fat Brain Cognition Deactivation Embryos Females Gene expression Hypothalamus Inactivation Laboratory animals Males Maternal behavior Memory Mesoderm Nest building Object recognition Pattern recognition Proteins Research and Analysis Methods Social behavior Social interactions Social Sciences Weaning
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Summary:	Mesoderm specific transcript ( Mest )/paternally expressed gene-1 ( Peg1 ) is an imprinted gene expressed predominantly from the paternal allele. Aberrations in maternal behavior were previously reported in a Mest global knockout mouse ( Mest tm1Masu ). In this study, we performed in-depth social and maternal behavioral testing in a mouse model of Mest inactivation developed in our laboratory ( Mest tm1.2Rkz ). Mice with paternal allele inactivation ( Mest pKO ) did not show anxiety after testing in the elevated plus maze, open field trial, and marble burying; nor depression-like behaviors in the tail suspension test. Mest pKO showed normal social behaviors and memory/cognition in the three-chamber box test and the novel object recognition test, respectively. Primiparous Mest pKO and Mest gKO (biallelic Mest inactivation) female mice exhibited normal nest building and maternal behavior; and, virgin Mest pKO and Mest gKO female mice showed normal maternal instinct. Analyses of gene expression in adult hypothalamus, embryonic day 14.5 whole brain and adult whole brain demonstrated full abrogation of Mest mRNA in Mest pKO and Mest gKO mice with no effect on miR-335 expression. Our data indicates no discernible impairments in object recognition memory, social behavior or maternal behavior resulting from loss of Mest . The basis for the differences in maternal phenotypic behaviors between Mest tm1Masu and Mest tm1.2Rkz is not known.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203