TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioral, physiological, and genetic drivers of coping in a non-human primate
AU - Bhattacharjee, Debottam
AU - Guðjónsdóttir, Aníta Rut
AU - Chova, Paula Escriche
AU - Middelburg, Esmee
AU - Jäckels, Jana
AU - de Groot, Natasja G.
AU - Wallner, Bernard
AU - Massen, Jorg J.M.
AU - Pflüger, Lena S.
PY - 2024/2/26
Y1 - 2024/2/26
N2 - Animals experience stressful situations, from predation to social conflicts, but mostly deal with them successfully. This adaptive mechanism, coping, reduces the adverse effects of stressors, and its failure may result in reduced fitness. Substantial inter-individual variation in coping is observed, yet little is known about how behavioral, physiological and genetic drivers regulate coping holistically and contribute to such variations. We assessed behavioral coping styles (n=30), emotional arousal (n=12), and personalities (n=32) of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and also investigated the association of coping with a valine/methionine polymorphism encoded by a critical human stress regulatory gene, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) (n=26). Personality and the human equivalent COMT Val/Met polymorphism were associated with “nonaggression-based” and “aggression-based” coping styles. Compared to nonaggression-based, aggression-based copers maintained higher average facial temperatures, indicating potentially lower emotional arousal, as measured using infrared thermography. These findings demonstrate a complex interplay of various proximate mechanisms governing coping in a non-human primate. © 2024 The Author(s).
AB - Animals experience stressful situations, from predation to social conflicts, but mostly deal with them successfully. This adaptive mechanism, coping, reduces the adverse effects of stressors, and its failure may result in reduced fitness. Substantial inter-individual variation in coping is observed, yet little is known about how behavioral, physiological and genetic drivers regulate coping holistically and contribute to such variations. We assessed behavioral coping styles (n=30), emotional arousal (n=12), and personalities (n=32) of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and also investigated the association of coping with a valine/methionine polymorphism encoded by a critical human stress regulatory gene, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) (n=26). Personality and the human equivalent COMT Val/Met polymorphism were associated with “nonaggression-based” and “aggression-based” coping styles. Compared to nonaggression-based, aggression-based copers maintained higher average facial temperatures, indicating potentially lower emotional arousal, as measured using infrared thermography. These findings demonstrate a complex interplay of various proximate mechanisms governing coping in a non-human primate. © 2024 The Author(s).
KW - Evolutionary biology
KW - Genetics
KW - Zoology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183042532&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85183042532&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108890
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108890
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
C2 - 38318385
SN - 2589-0042
VL - 27
JO - iScience
JF - iScience
IS - 2
M1 - 108890
ER -