JAKARTA – group researcher do gene editing on hamsters so they are not too aggressive. They used the CRISPR editing method to remove the gene believed to be responsible for aggressive behavior in hamsters.
However, the results of these genetic modifications have a much different effect. Instead of being more docile, the hamster becomes too aggressive.
Reporting from BGR, Monday (27/6/2022), scientists accidentally make gene-edited hamsters become angry and very aggressive.
It is known that hamsters have been at the core of many animal studies for decades. That’s because these tiny furry rodents have very similar social organization and stress responses to humans.
Because of this, scientists have used rodents to try to better understand what regulates social behaviors like anger, stress, and so on.
Several decades ago, in the early 1980s, a group of researchers discovered that a hormone known as Arginine Vasopressin (AVP) could alter hamster behavior.
From here, the scientists dug deeper into the differences between hamster sex and the AVP receptor, called Avpr1a. This hormone is changed in hamsters and then gene editing is done.
Previously, researchers found that male hamsters injected with Avpr1a activator became more aggressive, while female hamsters became less aggressive.
Alternatively, when injecting the male with an Avpr1a inhibitor, the male becomes more docile, while the female becomes aggressive.
Further research into the hamster response to Avpr1a demonstrated how it regulates aggression in rodents.
In 2007, researchers conducted another test to delete the Avpr1a gene in male mice. They expect to see an aggressive decline due to the lack of AVP signals.
However, the mice did not show any difference in the level of aggression compared to normal mice. Now, researchers have tested the same idea by creating gene-edited hamsters.
The researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to remove the Avpr1a receptor gene in male and female hamsters. As with mice, they expect it to reduce overall levels of aggression.
However, the hypothesis is not true. In contrast, female hamsters and male hamsters who were gene-edited were both more aggressive. They even attack other hamsters of the same sex.
For the researchers, the case is puzzling, especially with nearly four decades of research into how Avpr1a affects these animals.
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