PMID- 28413431
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20240325
IS  - 1742-9994 (Print)
IS  - 1742-9994 (Electronic)
IS  - 1742-9994 (Linking)
VI  - 14
DP  - 2017
TI  - Asian house rats may facilitate their invasive success through suppressing brown 
      rats in chronic interaction.
PG  - 20
LID - 10.1186/s12983-017-0202-4 [doi]
LID - 20
AB  - BACKGROUND: The Asian house rat (Rattus tanezumi) and the brown rat (Rattus 
      norvegicus) are closely related species and are partially sympatric in southern 
      China. Over the past 20 years, R. tanezumi has significantly expanded northward 
      in China and partially replaced the native brown rat subspecies, R. n. 
      humiliatus. Although invasive species are often more aggressive than native 
      species, we did not observe interspecific physical aggression between R. tanezumi 
      and R. n. humiliatus. Here, we focused on whether or not R. tanezumi was superior 
      to R. n. humiliatus in terms of nonphysical competition, which is primarily 
      mediated by chemical signals. RESULTS: We performed two laboratory experiments to 
      test different paradigms in domesticated R. tanezumi and R. n. humiliatus. In 
      Experiment 1, we caged adult male rats of each species for 2 months in 
      heterospecific or conspecific pairs, partitioned by perforated galvanized iron 
      sheets, allowing exchange of chemical stimuli and ultrasonic vocalization. The 
      sexual attractiveness of male urine odor showed a tendency (marginal 
      significance) to increase in R. tanezumi caged with R. n. humiliatus, compared 
      with those in conspecific pairs. Hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and 
      brain-derived nutrition factor (BDNF) mRNA were upregulated in R. n. humiliatus 
      and R. tanezumi, respectively, when the rats were caged in heterospecific pairs. 
      In Experiment 2, we kept juvenile male rats in individual cages in rooms with 
      either the same or the different species for 2 months, allowing chemical 
      interaction. The sexual attractiveness of male urine was significantly enhanced 
      in R. tanezumi, but reduced in R. n. humiliatus by heterospecific cues and mRNA 
      expression of hippocampal GR and BDNF were upregulated by heterospecific cues in 
      R. n. humiliatus and R. tanezumi, respectively. Although not identical, the 
      results from Experiments 1 and 2 were generally consistent. CONCLUSIONS: The 
      results of both experiments indicate that nonphysical/chronic interspecific 
      stimuli, particularly scent signals, between R. n. humiliatus and R. tanezumi may 
      negatively affect R. n. humiliatus and positively affect R. tanezumi. We infer 
      that chronic interspecific interactions may have contributed to the invasion of 
      R. tanezumi into the range of R. n. humiliatus in natural habitats.
FAU - Guo, Hong-Ling
AU  - Guo HL
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in 
      Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-5 Beichen 
      West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101 China. GRID: grid.9227.e
AD  - College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 
      100049 China. GRID: grid.410726.6
FAU - Teng, Hua-Jing
AU  - Teng HJ
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in 
      Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-5 Beichen 
      West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101 China. GRID: grid.9227.e
AD  - College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 
      100049 China. GRID: grid.410726.6
FAU - Zhang, Jin-Hua
AU  - Zhang JH
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in 
      Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-5 Beichen 
      West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101 China. GRID: grid.9227.e
FAU - Zhang, Jian-Xu
AU  - Zhang JX
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in 
      Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-5 Beichen 
      West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101 China. GRID: grid.9227.e
FAU - Zhang, Yao-Hua
AU  - Zhang YH
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-6318-413X
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in 
      Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1-5 Beichen 
      West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101 China. GRID: grid.9227.e
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20170412
PL  - England
TA  - Front Zool
JT  - Frontiers in zoology
JID - 101231669
PMC - PMC5389004
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Chronic stress
OT  - Closely related species
OT  - Invasive mechanism
OT  - Neuroendocrine molecules
OT  - Sexual attractiveness
EDAT- 2017/04/18 06:00
MHDA- 2017/04/18 06:01
PMCR- 2017/04/12
CRDT- 2017/04/18 06:00
PHST- 2016/08/08 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2017/03/02 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2017/04/18 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2017/04/18 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2017/04/18 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2017/04/12 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 202 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/s12983-017-0202-4 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Front Zool. 2017 Apr 12;14:20. doi: 10.1186/s12983-017-0202-4. eCollection 2017.