Behavioral, physiological, and genetic drivers of coping in a non-human primate

D Bhattacharjee; AR Guojonsdóttir; PE Chova; Esmee Middelburg; J Jäckels; NG de Groot; B Wallner; JJM Massen; LS Pflüger

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.108890

Behavioral, physiological, and genetic drivers of coping in a non-human primate

D Bhattacharjee^*, AR Guojonsdóttir, PE Chova, Esmee Middelburg, J Jäckels, NG de Groot, B Wallner, JJM Massen, LS Pflüger

^*Corresponding author for this work

Utrecht University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Animals experience stressful situations, from predation to social conflicts, but mostly deal with them successfully. This adaptive mechanism, coping, reduces the adverse effects of stressors, and its failure may result in reduced fitness. Substantial inter-individual variation in coping is observed, yet little is known about how behavioral, physiological and genetic drivers regulate coping holistically and contribute to such variations. We assessed behavioral coping styles (n=30), emotional arousal (n=12), and personalities (n=32) of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and also investigated the association of coping with a valine/methionine polymorphism encoded by a critical human stress regulatory gene, catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) (n=26). Personality and the human equivalent COMT Val/Met polymorphism were associated with “nonaggression-based” and “aggression-based” coping styles. Compared to nonaggression-based, aggression-based copers maintained higher average facial temperatures, indicating potentially lower emotional arousal, as measured using infrared thermography. These findings demonstrate a complex interplay of various proximate mechanisms governing coping in a non-human primate.

Original language	English
Article number	108890
Number of pages	19
Journal	iScience
Volume	27
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.108890
Publication status	Published - 16 Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s)

Funding

We thank Sophie Waasdorp, Charlotte Kluiver, and Sjoerd Sijbrandij for their assistance during the experiments and organization of the data. We are grateful to Elisabeth H.M. Sterck and Jan A.M. Langermans for their help in implementing the study at the BPRC. We thank all the caretakers at the BPRC for their help and assistance. We acknowledge the Affenberg Zoobetriebsgesellschaft mbH for providing student housing and bearing operating expenses during lab work. We would also like to thank Martin Hofer and Ron van Sambeek for their support during lab work at the Affenberg field research lab and infrared thermal cameras, respectively. The study received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions research and innovation program under grant number H2020-MSCA-IF-2019-893016 (awarded to D.B.). We thank Sophie Waasdorp, Charlotte Kluiver, and Sjoerd Sijbrandij for their assistance during the experiments and organization of the data. We are grateful to Elisabeth H.M. Sterck and Jan A.M. Langermans for their help in implementing the study at the BPRC. We thank all the caretakers at the BPRC for their help and assistance. We acknowledge the Affenberg Zoobetriebsgesellschaft mbH for providing student housing and bearing operating expenses during lab work. We would also like to thank Martin Hofer and Ron van Sambeek for their support during lab work at the Affenberg field research lab and infrared thermal cameras, respectively. The study received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions research and innovation program under grant number H2020-MSCA-IF-2019-893016 (awarded to D.B.). D.B. A.R.G. and J.J.M.M. conceived and designed the study; D.B. A.R.G, P.E.C. and E.M. performed research, collected, coded and organized data; D.B. P.E.C. J.J.M.M. and L.S.P. managed and coordinated the study; N.G.G. provided the DNA samples; J.J. B.W. and L.S.P. carried out the genotyping work; D.B. and A.R.G. conducted the formal analysis of the data; D.B. wrote the first draft of the manuscript; D.B. N.G.G. J.J.M.M, and L.S.P. edited the manuscript. J.J.M.M. and L.S.P. supervised the study. The authors declare no competing interests.

Funders	Funder number
European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions research and innovation program
European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions research and innovation program	H2020-MSCA-IF-2019-893016
Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University

Keywords

Evolutionary biology
Genetics
Zoology

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PIIS2589004224001111Final published version, 3.19 MBLicence: CC BY

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Behavioral, physiological, and genetic drivers of coping in a non-human primate

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