of other mice. Photo courtesy of Doug Cornwall.
Arranged mice marriages produce fewer attractive children, according to research done at the U.
A study performed by Wayne Potts, a biology professor, and Adam Nelson, a former doctoral student in biology, showed that male mice are born with more pheromones if their mothers are able to choose their mates. They excrete the substance to attract female mice, similar to the way male peacocks spread their tails.
Potts said the study was conducted in response to a previous study that gave female mice 10 minutes to choose their mate. Mouse mothers who were given the time to choose their mates had healthier sons. The original idea for the study was to see if mothers would be able to produce healthier sons if given more time to select a mate that would probably have better genes.
Twenty-three pairs of mice were placed in separate cages, then 20 male mice and 40 female mice were put in a mouse barn. Barns are much larger than cages and they are split into territories for the male mice. The mouse barns make it possible for female mice to choose their mate over time. Meanwhile, the mice in cages had only one mate to choose from. The natural social structure they provide was vital, Potts said. The study showed that through selection, parents can alter their children’s genes.
Potts said this finding shows the natural changes as well as how genetic changes can alter a person’s genes. In comparing the results to past records of human society, researchers have found similar results in humans. One record showed that in times of famine, parents were able to give their children the ability for their body to immediately turn their food to fat or something useful.
“This change in genetics was helpful until times when there was plenty of food,” Potts said.
Though mice with mothers who chose their mate are able to produce more pheromones, it was found that the mice end up with a shorter lifespan. Potts said that mice born to promiscuous mothers have a 40 percent reduced survival rate from natural deaths because they are investing so much in excreting pheromones that their other systems start to shut down.