Data from: The clock gene Period1 regulates innate routine behaviour in mice

Laboratory mice are well capable of performing innate routine behaviour programmes necessary for courtship, nest-building and exploratory activities although housed for decades in animal facilities. We found that in mice inactivation of the clock gene Period1 profoundly changes innate routine behaviour programmes like those necessary for courtship, nest building, exploration and learning. These results in wild-type and Period1 mutant mice, together with earlier findings on courtship behaviour in wild-type and period-mutant Drosophila melanogaster, suggest a conserved role of Period-genes on innate routine behaviour. Additionally, both per-mutant flies and Period1-mutant mice display spatial learning and memory deficits. The profound influence of Period1 on routine behaviour programmes in mice, including female partner choice, may be independent of its function as a circadian clock gene, since Period1-deficient mice display normal circadian behaviour.尽管在动物设施中饲养数十年，实验小鼠仍可正常完成求偶、筑巢与探索活动所需的固有日常行为程序。我们发现，在小鼠体内失活时钟基因Period1（Period1）后，其固有日常行为程序会发生显著改变，涵盖求偶、筑巢、探索与学习所需的相关行为。本研究针对野生型与Period1突变小鼠的实验结果，结合此前关于野生型及period突变黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）求偶行为的研究发现，表明Period基因家族在固有日常行为中发挥着保守的调控作用。此外，period突变果蝇与Period1突变小鼠均表现出空间学习与记忆缺陷。Period1对小鼠日常行为程序（包括雌性伴侣选择）的显著影响，可能与其作为生物钟基因的功能无关，因为Period1缺陷小鼠的昼夜节律行为表现正常。