Egalitarian cooperation linked to central oxytocin levels in communal breeding house mice.
Journal
Communications biology
ISSN: 2399-3642
Titre abrégé: Commun Biol
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101719179
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
27 Sep 2024
27 Sep 2024
Historique:
received:
30
10
2023
accepted:
18
09
2024
medline:
28
9
2024
pubmed:
28
9
2024
entrez:
28
9
2024
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Relationships between adult females are fundamental to understanding diversity in animal social systems. While cooperative relationships between kin are known to promote fitness benefits, the proximate mechanisms underlying this are not well understood. Here we show that when related female house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) cooperate to rear young communally, those with higher endogenous oxytocin levels have more egalitarian and successful cooperative relationships. Sisters with higher oxytocin concentrations in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus weaned significantly more offspring, had lower reproductive skew and spent more equal proportions of time in the nest. By contrast, PVN oxytocin was unrelated to the number of weaned offspring produced in the absence of cooperation, and did not vary in response to manipulation of nest site availability or social cues of outgroup competition. By linking fitness consequences of cooperation with oxytocin, our findings have broad implications for understanding the evolution of egalitarian social relationships.
Identifiants
pubmed: 39333722
doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06922-y
pii: 10.1038/s42003-024-06922-y
doi:
Substances chimiques
Oxytocin
50-56-6
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
1193Subventions
Organisme : RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
ID : NE/M002977
Organisme : RCUK | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
ID : NE/M002977
Informations de copyright
© 2024. The Author(s).
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