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Science 7 November 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5903, pp. 896 - 900
DOI: 10.1126/science.1159277
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Review

Genes and Social Behavior

Gene E. Robinson,1,2,3* Russell D. Fernald,4 David F. Clayton2,3,5

What genes and regulatory sequences contribute to the organization and functioning of neural circuits and molecular pathways in the brain that support social behavior? How does social experience interact with information in the genome to modulate brain activity? Here, we address these questions by highlighting progress that has been made in identifying and understanding two key "vectors of influence" that link genes, the brain, and social behavior: (i) Social information alters gene expression in the brain to influence behavior, and (ii) genetic variation influences brain function and social behavior. We also discuss how evolutionary changes in genomic elements influence social behavior and outline prospects for a systems biology of social behavior.

1 Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
2 Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
3 Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1206 West Gregory Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
4 Department of Biology and Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305–5020, USA.
5 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 601 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: generobi{at}illinois.edu

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