Screening for coping style increases the power of gene expression studies

MacKenzie, S., Ribas, L., Pilarczyk, M., Capdevila, D.M., Kadri, S. and Huntingford, F.A. (2009) Screening for coping style increases the power of gene expression studies. PLoS ONE, 4(4), e5314-.. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005314)

Abstract

Background: Individuals of many vertebrate species show different stress coping styles and these have a striking influence on how gene expression shifts in response to a variety of challenges. Principal Findings: This is clearly illustrated by a study in which common carp displaying behavioural predictors of different coping styles (characterised by a proactive, adrenaline-based or a reactive, cortisol-based response) were subjected to inflammatory challenge and specific gene transcripts measured in individual brains. Proactive and reactive fish differed in baseline gene expression and also showed diametrically opposite responses to the challenge for 80% of the genes investigated. Significance: Incorporating coping style as an explanatory variable can account for some the unexplained variation that is common in gene expression studies, can uncover important effects that would otherwise have passed unnoticed and greatly enhances the interpretive value of gene expression data.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Huntingford, Professor Felicity and Kadri, Dr Sunil
• Authors: MacKenzie, S., Ribas, L., Pilarczyk, M., Capdevila, D.M., Kadri, S., and Huntingford, F.A.
• Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Published Online: 01 January 2009
• Copyright Holders: © 2009 MacKenzie et al
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 2009 4(4): e5314
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher