PUBLICATION

Fragile X Mental Retardation-1 Knockout Zebrafish Shows Precocious Development in Social Behavior

Authors
Wu, Y.J., Hsu, M.T., Ng, M.C., Amstislavskaya, T.G., Tikhonova, M.A., Yang, Y.L., Lu, K.T.
ID
ZDB-PUB-170823-3
Date
2017
Source
Zebrafish   14(5): 438-443 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
fragile X mental retardation protein, shoaling preference behavior, social behavior, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Animals, Genetically Modified
  • Anxiety/genetics
  • Disease Models, Animal*
  • Gene Knockout Techniques
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Motor Activity
  • RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics*
  • RNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism*
  • Social Behavior*
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism*
PubMed
28829283 Full text @ Zebrafish
Abstract
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a generally hereditary form of human mental retardation that is caused by triplet repeat expansion (CGG) mutation in fragile X mental retardation 1 (fmr1) gene promoter and that results in the absence of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) expression. The common symptoms of FXS patients include learning disabilities, anxiety, autistic behaviors, as well as other behavioral abnormalities. Our previous results demonstrated the behavioral abnormalities in fmr1 knockout (KO) zebrafish such as fear memory impairment and autism-like behavior. Here, we studied the functional role of fmr1 gene on the development of social behavior by behavioral experiments, including shoaling behavior, shoaling preference, light/dark test, and novel tank task. Our results demonstrated that precocious development of shoaling behavior is found in fmr1 KO zebrafish without affecting the shoaling preference on conspecific zebrafish. The shoaling behavior appeared after 14 days postfertilization (dpf), and the level of shoaling elevated in fmr1 KO zebrafish. Furthermore, the fmr1 KO zebrafish at 28 dpf expressed higher anxiety level in novel tank task. These results suggest that the change of shoaling behavior in fmr1 KO zebrafish may result from hyperactivity and an increase of anxiety.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping