Name: measuring active and passive tameness separately in mice
Uploaded: 2018-08-10T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Active and Passive Tameness Separately in Mice at JoVE.com

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) as follows: 15H05724, 16H01491, and 15H04289.

All experiments were performed in accordance with the guidelines for animal experiments from the National Institute of Genetics (NIG), and all procedures were approved by the NIG Committee for Animal Care and Use (approval no. 26-9).
1. Animals
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	<li>Selective breeding
	<ol>
		<li>Create wild-derived heterogeneous stock (WHS)6 mice by crossing 8 inbred strains (MSM, HMI, BLG2, PGN2, KJR, CHD, NJL, and BFM/2) while avoiding any inbreeding (mating b...

<ol>
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The representative results cover nine behavioral indices from the active tameness, passive tameness, and stay-on-hand tests. A comparison of the scores between the selected and control groups revealed clear differences in tameness. These results show that the three tests are valid for measuring tameness in mice.
Tameness levels in animals can be difficult to quantify empirically. Several methods have been developed for evaluating tameness in deer, mice, and rats8,<...

Selective breeding during domestication has changed the characteristics of domesticated animals to make them better adapted for living with humans1,2,3. &#34;Tameness&#34; is a common behavioral trait observed in domesticated animals. The studies of selective breeding for tameness in animals reveal how their phenotypes have changed in the course of domestication. In a famous study, foxes were selectively bred for tameness and a group of foxes that exhibited a high level of tameness was established2. The foxes also showed other phenotype changes involving morphology, reproduction, coat color, and physiological traits. Selective breeding for tameness in mice, a popular laboratory animal, can help reveal the mechanism underlying the change in a variety of phenotypes during domestication.
Tameness has two behavioral components: active approaches to humans (active tameness) and a reduction in the avoidance of humans (passive tameness)4. In a previous study, we established three behavioral tests to characterize the tameness levels in mice: active tameness, passive tameness, and stay-on-hand tests5. The first test was designed to quantify a mouse&#39;s active tameness by measuring the latency of its spontaneous approach toward a human and the time it spent in contact with a human hand. The second test was designed to quantify passive tameness by measuring how long a mouse tolerated being touched by a human hand. The stay-on-hand test was intended to quantify behavioral avoidance of being stroked mildly by a human hand. These three assessments require only an open-field apparatus, a digital camera, and a large pair of tweezers. They can be completed sequentially within 3 min, enabling a large quantity of data to be collected per day.
In the previous study, we characterized and compared tameness behaviors using a series of inbred mouse strains: 10 wild strains, one Japanese fancy mouse-derived strain, and six laboratory strains5. Most domesticated strains showed a significantly higher passive tameness than wild strains, but the active tameness did not differ between the two groups. From these results, we concluded that the domesticated mice that are the founders of laboratory strains were predominantly selected for their passive tameness, but not for active tameness, in their breeding history.
We next conducted selective breeding with eight wild mouse strains to generate a genetically heterogeneous population6. We chose the animals that scored high on the active tameness test and successfully increased their active tameness in successive generations, compared with a control group. This outcome indicated that the tests reliably measure the tameness in mice.
Here, we describe the comprehensive method for measuring behavioral indices using the three behavioral tests. First, we explain the set-up and necessary apparatus. Next, we detail the step-by-step procedure for running the experiments, collecting data through video, and analyzing said data using freeware that we developed. Finally, we show representative results comparing the pool of selectively bred mice with a control group.

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measuring active and passive tameness separately in mice

Domesticated animals such as dogs and laboratory mice show a high level of tameness, which is important for humans to handle them easily. Tameness has two behavioral components: a reluctance to avoid humans (passive tameness) and a motivation to approach humans (active tameness). To quantify these components in mice, we previously developed behavioral tests for active tameness, passive tameness, and the willingness to stay on a human hand, each designed to be completed within 3 min. The data obtained were used for selective breeding, with a large number of mice analyzed per generation. The active tameness test measures the movement of the mouse toward a human hand and the contact it engages in. The passive tameness test measures the duration of time that a mouse tolerates human touch. In the stay-on-hand test, a mouse is placed on a human hand and touched slowly using the thumb of that hand; the duration of time that the animal remains on the hand is measured. Here, we describe the test set-up and apparatus, explain the procedures, and discuss the appropriate data analysis. Finally, we explain how to interpret the results.

We previously conducted selective breeding for active tameness in miceandsuccessfully produced mice that showed a high level of active tameness6. The representative results of the tameness tests for the selected and non-selected groups of mice at the 15th generation (G15) are shown in Figure 4. Mice from the selected group scored higher on the active tameness test, exhibiting a significantly longer duration of contact with a...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Measuring Active and Passive Tameness Separately in Mice at JoVE.com

Measuring Active and Passive Tameness Separately in Mice

Tameness in animals includes a reduction of avoidance responses to humans (passive tameness) and an increase in active approaches to humans (active tameness). Here, we describe detailed protocols for three behavioral tests (active tameness, passive tameness, and stay-on-hand tests) to separately measure the active and passive tameness of mice.

Domesticated animals such as dogs and laboratory mice show a high level of tameness, which is important for humans to handle them easily. Tameness has two ...

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