Biology subjects

Gagnon, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Gagnon, L..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Deciphering the genetic structure of the Quebec founder population using genealogies

Using genealogy to study the demographic history of a population makes it possible to overcome the models and assumptions often used in population genetics. The Quebec founder population is one of the few populations in the World having access to the complete genealogy of the last 400 years. The goal of this paper is to follow the evolution of the Quebec population structure generation per generation from the beginning of European colonization until the present day. To do so, we calculated the kinship coefficients of all ancestors pairs in the ascending genealogy of 665 individuals from eight regional and ethnocultural groups per 25-year period. We show that the Quebec population structure appeared in the St. Lawrence valley as early as 1750. At that time, the ancestors of two groups, the Sagueneans and the Acadians from the Gaspe Peninsula, experienced a marked increase in kinship and inbreeding levels which have shaped the contemporary population structure. Interestingly, this structure arose before the colonization of the Saguenay region and at the very beginning of the Gaspe Peninsula settlement. The resulting regional founder effects in these two groups, but also in the other regional groups, led to differences in the present-day identity-by-descent sharing and are directly linked to the number of most recent common ancestors and their genetic contribution to the studied subjects.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2022

The Collaborative Cross strains and their founders vary widely in cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization

Cocaine use and overdose deaths attributed to cocaine have increased significantly in the United States in the last 10 years. Despite the prevalence of cocaine use disorder (CUD) and the personal and societal problems it presents, there are currently no approved pharmaceutical treatments. The absence of treatment options is due, in part, to our lack of knowledge about the etiology of CUDs. There is ample evidence that genetics plays a role in increasing CUD risk but thus far, very few risk genes have been identified in human studies. Genetic studies in mice have been extremely useful for identifying genetic loci and genes, but have been limited to very few genetic backgrounds, leaving substantial phenotypic and genetic diversity unexplored. Herein we report the measurement of cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization using a 19-day protocol that captures baseline locomotor activity, acute locomotor response to cocaine and locomotor sensitization across 5 exposures to the drug. These behaviors were measured in 51 genetically diverse yet tractable Collaborative Cross (CC) strains along with their inbred founder strains. The CC was generated by crossing 8 genetically diverse inbred strains such that each inbred CC strain has genetic contributions from each of the founder strains. Inbred CC mice are infinitely reproducible and provide a stable, yet diverse genetic platform on which to study the genetic architecture and genetic correlations among phenotypes. We have identified significant differences in cocaine locomotor sensitivity and behavioral sensitization across the panel of CC strains and their founders. We have established relationships among cocaine sensitization behaviors and identified extreme responding strains that can be used in future studies aimed at understanding the genetic, biological and pharmacological mechanisms that drive addiction-related behaviors. Finally, we have determined that these behaviors exhibit relatively robust heritability making them amenable to future genetic mapping studies to identify addiction risk genes and genetic pathways that can be studied as potential targets for the development of novel therapeutics.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2021

Heritable Variation in Locomotion, Reward Sensitivity, and Impulsive Action, Choice, and Waiting in a Genetically Diverse Inbred Mouse Panel

Drugs of abuse, including alcohol and stimulants like cocaine, produce effects that are subject to individual variability, and genetic variation accounts for at least a portion of those differences. Notably, research in both animal models and human subjects point towards reward sensitivity and impulsivity as being trait characteristics that predict relatively greater positive subjective responses to stimulant drugs. Here we describe use of the eight Collaborative Cross (CC) founder strains and multiple CC strains to examine the heritability of reward sensitivity and impulsivity traits, as well as genetic correlations between these measures and existing addiction-related phenotypes. Methods. Strains were all tested for activity in an open field and reward sensitivity (intake of chocolate BOOST(R)). Mice were then divided into two counterbalanced groups and underwent reversal learning (impulsive action and waiting impulsivity) or delay discounting (impulsive choice). Results. CC and founder mice demonstrate significant heritability for impulsive action, impulsive choice, waiting impulsivity, locomotor activity, and reward sensitivity, with each impulsive phenotype determined to be non-correlating, independent traits. This research was conducted within the broader, inter-laboratory effort of the Center for Systems Neurogenetics of Addiction (CSNA) to characterize CC and DO mice for multiple, cocaine abuse related traits. These data will facilitate the discovery of genetic correlations between predictive traits, which will then guide discovery of genes and genetic variants that contribute to addictive behaviors.

neuroscience↗