A scientific experiment that accidentally created a group of unusually vicious hamsters seems to have revealed how little is understood about how biology governs behavior.
U.S. scientists plan to use Crispr, a gene-editing technique at the forefront of biological research, to alter the temperament of Syrian hamsters, a species often used in the laboratory to block the effects of vasopressin. a regulatory hormone.
Previous research had shown that vasopressin shapes a variety of social behaviors, including aggression and communication. To further investigate, the scientists deactivated a gene known as AVPR1A in a group of hamsters. This meant that they did not have a receptor that interacts with vasopressin in key regions of the brain.
Immune to the effects of the hormone, rodents were supposed to