Summary and Implications
Some behavioral phenotypes can be expected to show stable, genetically influenced, characteristics.
The reasons that some phenotypes may not show as much stability across strains/genotypes are potentially many:
- Method Variance and Measurment Reliability should play a role. Less reliable indices should be less stable. Requirement for larger N�s.
- Genotype x Environment Interaction may exist. Uncontrolled environmental variation may exist and gene expression may vary with it. Both additive and non-additive sources of GxE may exist. As is often the case in behavior genetics, identification of the sources of environmental influence would be necessary before any real understanding of GxE can be expected.
- Site specific QTL??? It is theoretically possible that non-identical genes are influential at different sites (read environments). This kind of GxE would be accessible only in the context of gene mapping studies.