Hormones, genes, and behavior

摘要

With assays of hormone-sensitive behav- iors, it is possible to demonstrate both direct and indirect actions of genes on mammalian social behaviors. Direct effects of estrogen receptor gene expression and progester- one receptor gene expression figure prominently in well analyzed neuroendocrine mechanisms for sex behavior, operating through a neural circuit that has been delineated. Indirect effects, notably the consequences of sexual differ- entiation, display complex dependencies. In a human con- dition, Kallmann syndrome, the data show a clear, indirect genetic influence on an important human social behavior, in which damage at chromosome Xp-22.3 works through at least six discrete steps to affect libido.