a dopaminergic gene cluster in the prefrontal cortex predicts performance indicative of general intelligence in genetically heterogeneous mice前额皮质多巴胺基因簇的预测性能表明基因异构小鼠的一般智力.pdfVIP

A Dopaminergic Gene Cluster in the Prefrontal Cortex Predicts Performance Indicative of General Intelligence in Genetically Heterogeneous Mice Stefan Kolata, Kenneth Light, Christopher D. Wass, Danielle Colas-Zelin, Debasri Roy, Louis D. Matzel* Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America Abstract Background: Genetically heterogeneous mice express a trait that is qualitatively and psychometrically analogous to general intelligence in humans, and as in humans, this trait co-varies with the processing efficacy of working memory (including its dependence on selective attention). Dopamine signaling in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been established to play a critical role in animals’ performance in both working memory and selective attention tasks. Owing to this role of the PFC in the regulation of working memory, here we compared PFC gene expression profiles of 60 genetically diverse CD-1 mice that exhibited a wide range of general learning abilities (i.e., aggregate performance across five diverse learning tasks). Methodology/Principal Findings: Animals’ general cognitive abilities were first determined based on their aggregate performance across a battery of five diverse learning tasks. With a procedure designed to minimize false positive identifications, analysis of gene expression microarrays (comprised of 25,000 genes) identified a small number (,20) of genes that were differentially expressed across animals that exhibited fast and slow aggregate learning abilities. Of these genes, one functional cluster was identified, and this cluster (Darpp-32, Drd1a, and Rgs9) is an established modulator of dopamine signaling. Subsequent quantitative PCR found that expression of these dopaminegic genes plus one vascular gene (Nudt6) were significantly correlated with indi