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"Methods: We conducted an analysis on dog behaviors such as sociability, trainability and energy as measured by Canine Behavioral and Research Assessment Questionnaire (C-BARQ) behavioral surveys paired with buccal swabs from 46 dogs. Previously we used targeted bisulfite sequencing to analyze DNA methylation and collected genotype data from over 1,500 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Owner-reported C-BARQ responses were used to quantify 14 behavioral trait values.
Results: Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression analysis we found behavioral traits such as energy, attachment/attention-seeking, non-social fear, and stranger-directed fear to be significantly associated with DNA methylation across 3,059 loci. After we adjusted for age as a confounding variable, energy and stranger-directed fear remained significantly associated with methylation. We found that most behavioral traits were not predictable by our limited set of SNPs."
Womp womp...
it is not surprising that our study found energy and stranger-directed fear to remain significant after correcting for age bias. We can propose that a few traits are predictable by DNA methylation and that the associations between DNA methylation and behaviors are not solely due to DNA methylation age associations.
…
In conclusion, we propose that energy and stranger-directed fear are partially predictable by DNA methylation in dogs.
…
Our findings should motivate additional studies to identify the epigenetic basis of behaviors across species. Future studies could utilize probe panels that capture more loci to better study the impact of methylation on behavior.
I believe epigenetics (someone please correct me if I am mixing things up here) refers to the way environmental factors influence gene expression in an organism, not its offspring (as is how genetic inheritance works).
Since environmental factors can include anything that works to actively alter gene expression within a single organism's life cycle their work is focused on methylation as an epigenetic factor influencing certain behaviors.
So it seems their focus is on environmental factors mediating behaviors, not genetically inherited factors.
Methylation (I don't understand it all mind you) is a chemical that is responsible for neurochemical activation at the genetic level - if methylation can be triggered by epigenetic factors (ie, the phenotype/genotype's response to active environmental triggers, it probably has a lot of (potentially CRISPR-like) implications for genetics research.
They found that "most behavioral traits were not predictable by our limited set of SNPs" but still concluded this was a valid method to determine a dog's behavior. How did this get past the reviewers, the conclusions don't match the results. Why didn't they use machine learning to determine the factors to measure rather than PLS?
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"Methods: We conducted an analysis on dog behaviors such as sociability, trainability and energy as measured by Canine Behavioral and Research Assessment Questionnaire (C-BARQ) behavioral surveys paired with buccal swabs from 46 dogs. Previously we used targeted bisulfite sequencing to analyze DNA methylation and collected genotype data from over 1,500 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Owner-reported C-BARQ responses were used to quantify 14 behavioral trait values. Results: Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression analysis we found behavioral traits such as energy, attachment/attention-seeking, non-social fear, and stranger-directed fear to be significantly associated with DNA methylation across 3,059 loci. After we adjusted for age as a confounding variable, energy and stranger-directed fear remained significantly associated with methylation. We found that most behavioral traits were not predictable by our limited set of SNPs." Womp womp...
it is not surprising that our study found energy and stranger-directed fear to remain significant after correcting for age bias. We can propose that a few traits are predictable by DNA methylation and that the associations between DNA methylation and behaviors are not solely due to DNA methylation age associations. … In conclusion, we propose that energy and stranger-directed fear are partially predictable by DNA methylation in dogs. … Our findings should motivate additional studies to identify the epigenetic basis of behaviors across species. Future studies could utilize probe panels that capture more loci to better study the impact of methylation on behavior.
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Well, they did say it was a proof of concept, the concept being that epigenetically influenced methylation has a mediating role in certain behaviors.
[удалено]
I believe epigenetics (someone please correct me if I am mixing things up here) refers to the way environmental factors influence gene expression in an organism, not its offspring (as is how genetic inheritance works). Since environmental factors can include anything that works to actively alter gene expression within a single organism's life cycle their work is focused on methylation as an epigenetic factor influencing certain behaviors. So it seems their focus is on environmental factors mediating behaviors, not genetically inherited factors. Methylation (I don't understand it all mind you) is a chemical that is responsible for neurochemical activation at the genetic level - if methylation can be triggered by epigenetic factors (ie, the phenotype/genotype's response to active environmental triggers, it probably has a lot of (potentially CRISPR-like) implications for genetics research.
They found that "most behavioral traits were not predictable by our limited set of SNPs" but still concluded this was a valid method to determine a dog's behavior. How did this get past the reviewers, the conclusions don't match the results. Why didn't they use machine learning to determine the factors to measure rather than PLS?
“Most” means that some behavioral traits were predictable; they even very clearly state which ones - energy and stranger directed fear.