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Reestablishment of Social Hierarchies in Weaned Pigs after Mixing.

ABSTRACT: Pigs are animals that live in groups and have social hierarchies within the group. After mixing, they can re-establish social hierarchies within several days through fighting. Dominance hierarchical indices, such as I&SI, Elo rating, and Glicko rating, have been used to analyze social hierarchies of some social animals but not pigs. I&SI index involves iterative calculations that first minimize the number of inconsistencies (I) in a dominance matrix, and then minimize the strength of those inconsistencies (SI). Elo rating and Glicko rating indices are based on the sequence in which interactions occur, and continuously update ratings by looking at interactions sequentially. To study the temporal dynamics of social hierarchy formation and maintenance in weaned pigs after mixing, a total of 102 pigs (47 females and 55 barrows) were selected by similar body weight and mixed in 10 pens (10 or 11 females or barrows per pen). Their behavior was recorded and observed for 72 h after mixing. Results showed that hierarchical indices I&SI, Elo rating, and Glicko rating were associated with each other (|r| = 0.681 ~ 0.942, p < 0.001). I&SI was associated with logarithms of frequency of active attack (|r| = 0.65, p < 0.05) and tended to associated with logarithms of frequency of standoff (|r| = 0.48, p < 0.1). Elo rating, and Glicko rating were associated with the logarithms of duration of being bullied (|r| = 0.393~0.401, p < 0.05). In addition, Glicko rating tended to be associated with the logarithms of duration of active attack and frequency of active attack (|r| = 0.416~0.439, p < 0.1). Multiple linear regression analyses of logarithms of dyadic behavior indicators for three hierarchical indices indicated the same effects. The time (hours) to achieve social stability of pigs after mixing was lower for females than barrows (23.06 ± 4.15 vs. 40.55 ± 4.71 h; p < 0.001). The most dominant pig (the first ranked) in each pen quickly appeared within a few hours after mixing and remained stable. Overall, our study demonstrated that the ranks calculated by the three dominance hierarchical indices: I&SI, Elo rating, and Glicko rating, were consistent and partially associated with part of the dyadic behavioral indicators in weaned pigs after mixing.

SUBMITTER: Tong X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7022989 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Variation in genes of the serotonergic system influences aggressive behavior by affecting serotonin levels in the central and cortical nervous system. SLC6A4 (serotonin transporter) is a master regulator of 5-HT signaling and involved in the regulation of aggressive behavior in humans and rodents. To identify potential functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the porcine SLC6A4 gene associated with aggressive behavior, a total of 500 pigs (268 barrows and 232 gilts) were selected and mixed in 51 pens. Their behavior was recorded and observed for 72 h after mixing. Based on a composite aggressive score (CAS), the most aggressive and the least aggressive pigs within each pen were selected separately (a total of 204 pigs). Ear tissue was sampled to extract genomic DNA. Eight SNPs in the 5'-flanking region, coding region, and 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of SLC6A4 were genotyped, of which 6 SNPs had significant differences (P < 0.05) in allele frequency between the most aggressive and least aggressive pigs. Luciferase activity was greater in plasmids of genotype GG than plasmids of genotype CC of rs345058216 (P < 0.01). Computational analysis nominated MAZ as putative transcription factor (TF) with higher probability to bind the SLC6A4 promoter at the SNP (rs345058216) site. Also, we demonstrated that MAZ overexpression modulates SLC6A4 promoter activity in allele-specific manner with an in vitro assay. In addition, we demonstrated that SLC6A4 was a direct target of miR-671-5p. The dual luciferase reporter gene assay and cell transfection were performed to examine the role of miR-671-5p in regulating SLC6A4 expression. The luciferase assays revealed that the SNP rs332335871 affects regulation of miR-671-5p in SLC6A4 expression. After overexpression of miR-671-5p in porcine primary neural cells, the SLC6A4 mRNA levels can be significantly reduced. In conclusion, we here found that miR-671-5p and MAZ mediated porcine SLC6A4 expression level, which provides the possible molecular mechanism of aggressive behavior.

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Reestablishment of Social Hierarchies in Weaned Pigs after Mixing.

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