NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: Gene-Brain-Behavior Phenotypes of Dog Aggression

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Over centuries, humans have selectively bred domestic dogs for appearance and behavioral characteristics.

This practice has reduced genetic variance between breeds and resulted in a “natural experiment,” providing current researchers with a controlled opportunity for understanding the role of domestication on behavior and identifying its physiological underpinnings. Fields such as genetics and neuroscience, which have traditionally used animals such as mice and rats in controlled laboratory settings, are now looking to dogs for answers because of their long history of co-evolution with humans.

By investigating the gene-brain-behavior link in dogs, who live in the same environment as humans, there is greater potential to understand how physiology and behavior are shaped by living in real-world environments.

Due to very relaxed negative selection and very strong positive selection, certain traits can become common in domesticated species. The presence of these deleterious traits has been demonstrated in dog behavior and cognition using behavioral, genetic, and brain imaging. Uniting insights from these separate lines of research in a multimethod project, the Fellow will investigate gene-brain-behavior phenotypes of aggression, combining behavior assessment surveys with neuroimaging (MRI) and genetic analysis.

The Fellow will investigate if systematic differences in the morphology and connectivity of aggression-related brain regions, genetic variation, and individual life histories play a role in aggressive phenotypes in dogs. An initial sample of pet dogs from the community will participate in behavior prescreening with C-BARQ (established behavior assessment instrument).

Dogs that score in the top 20% and bottom 20% of aggression scales will participate in additional screening for adverse life experiences, provide cheek swabs for genotyping individuals, and be invited for an MRI scan in the lab. The Fellow will be trained in MRI analyses to investigate differences between and interactions among brain phenotypes linked to genotype, brain phenotype, and early adverse experiences.

This work will shed light on the gene-brain-environment interactions that govern aggression, which is important for improving human-animal relationships, and has implications for understanding human mental health and social wellbeing.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.