Rabbit Anti-Human SNAP25 (a.a. 1-206) Polyclonal antibody

Behavioral variation within and between populations and species of the genus Papio has been studied extensively, but little is known about the genetic causes of individual- or population-level differences. This study investigates the influence of genetic variation on personality (sometimes referred to as temperament) in baboons and identifies a candidate gene partially responsible for the variation in that phenotype. To accomplish these goals, we examined individual variation in response to both novel objects and an apparent novel social partner (using a mirror test) among pedigreed baboons (n = 578) from the Southwest National Primate Research Center. We investigated the frequency and duration of individual behaviors in response to novel objects and used multivariate factor analysis to identify trait-like dimensions of personality. Exploratory factor analysis identified two distinct dimensions of personality within this population. Factor 1 accounts for 46.8 % of the variance within the behavioral matrix, and consists primarily of behaviors related to the "boldness" of the subject. Factor 2 accounts for 18.8 % of the variation, and contains several "anxiety" like behaviors. Several specific behaviors, and the two personality factors, were significantly heritable, with the factors showing higher heritability than most individual behaviors. Subsequent analyses show that the behavioral reactions observed in the test protocol are associated with animals' social behavior observed later in their home social groups. Finally we used linkage analysis to map quantitative trait loci for the measured phenotypes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in a positional candidate gene (SNAP25) are associated with variation in one of the personality factors, and CSF levels of homovanillic acid and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol. This study documents heritable variation in personality among baboons and suggests that sequence variation in SNAP25 may influence differences in behavior and neurochemistry in these nonhuman primates.

The present study demonstrates the first-ever characterization of cell types that express the vanilloid receptor 1 (VR1) in the taste buds of rat circumvallate papillae. We performed electron microscopy to identify the subcellular location. The VR1 immunoreactivity was associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasmic vesicles, and plasma membrane of taste cells. These results demonstrate the localization of the VR1 in membranous structures of the taste cells. We used double immunofluorescence histochemistry with taste cell type-specific markers to identify the cell types that express the VR1. The VR1 was detected in all functional taste cell types (Type I, Type II, and Type III cells). Together, our data suggest that the VR1 might play different roles according to the cell types within a taste bud.