cross fostering experiments suggest that mice songs are innate交叉培养实验表明老鼠歌曲是天生的.pdfVIP

Cross Fostering Experiments Suggest That Mice Songs Are Innate 1 1 2 1 1 Takefumi Kikusui , Kaori Nakanishi , Ryoko Nakagawa , Miho Nagasawa , Kazutaka Mogi , Kazuo Okanoya2,3* 1 Companion Animal Research, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, 2 Laboratory for Biolinguistics, Mind and Intelligence Research Core, Brain Science Institute (BSI), RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, Japan, 3 ERATO, Okanoya Emotional Information Project, Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Wako, Saitama, Japan Abstract Background: Vocal learning is a central functional constituent of human speech, and recent studies showing that adult male mice emit ultrasonic sound sequences characterized as ‘‘songs’’ have suggested that the ultrasonic courtship sounds of mice provide a mammalian model of vocal learning. Objectives: We tested whether mouse songs are learned, by examining the relative role of rearing environment in a cross- fostering experiment. Methods and Findings: We found that C57BL/6 and BALB/c males emit a clearly different pattern of songs with different frequency and syllable compositions; C57BL/6 males showed a higher peak frequency of syllables, shorter intervals between syllables, and more upward frequency modulations with jumps, whereas BALB/c males produced more ‘‘chevron’’ and ‘‘harmonics’’ syllables. To establish the degree of environmental influences in mouse song development, sons of these two strains were cross-fostered to another strain of parents. Songs were recorded when these cross-fostered pups were fully developed and their songs were compared with those of male mice reared by the genetic parents. The cross-fostered animals sang songs with acous