Direction of Handedness Linked to Hereditary Asymmetry of a Sensory System

Studies on the role of heredity in the transmission of handedness in nonhuman mammals have, so far, led to the isolation of mouse strains that differed in the lateralized versus ambidextrous use of the forepaw in a food-retrieval task (strength of paw preference). Here we report that left versus rig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 1993-04, Vol.90 (8), p.3246-3250
Main Authors: Barneoud, Pascal, Van der Loos, Hendrik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animal genetics
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Breeding
Cerebral Cortex - physiology
Forelimb - innervation
Functional Laterality - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetics
Handedness
Inbred strains
Mice
Mice, Inbred Strains - genetics
Mice, Inbred Strains - physiology
Neurobiology
Neurology
Phenotypes
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Right handedness
Rodents
Sensory system
Species Specificity
Vibrissae - innervation
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Summary:Studies on the role of heredity in the transmission of handedness in nonhuman mammals have, so far, led to the isolation of mouse strains that differed in the lateralized versus ambidextrous use of the forepaw in a food-retrieval task (strength of paw preference). Here we report that left versus right use of the forepaw (direction of paw preference) is associated with a genetically expressed structural asymmetry of a sensory system, the whisker-to-barrel pathway. Mice that express whisker pad asymmetry of a direction that corresponds with the asymmetry for which they were bred demonstrate an opposite shift in the distribution of handedness: a right or left dominance of the whisker pad predicts a high proportion of left-handers or right-handers, respectively. Is an altered brain circuit-that is, a consequence of the asymmetry of the whisker pad-associated with a change in the circuitry that governs handedness? Or, alternatively, are there two gene sets responsible for the phenomena that we report-one that causes "whiskeredness" and another that causes handedness?
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.90.8.3246