Emergence of Individuality in Genetically Identical Mice
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Identical and Still Different: Even in monozygotic twins reared together, there are always observable differences reflecting the influence of individual responses. Freund et al. (p. 756 ; see the Perspective by Bergmann and Frisén ) developed an inbred mouse model for studying the environmental influences on genetically identical animals and examined their effects on behavioral and neural development.
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A study with genetically identical mice found that small early differences in roaming activity became self-reinforcing, compounding over time into large differences in behavior and brain structure.
“A continuity between humans and lower animals is suggested by a study with genetically identical mice in which small early differences in roaming activity became self-reinforcing, compounding over time into large differences in behavior and brain structure”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Freund et al. 2013
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Lüscher, C., & Janak, P. H. (2021) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev-neuro-092920-123905 · Cited by 88 · see citing works
Leschik, J., Lutz, B., & Gentile, A. (2021) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · doi:10.3390/ijms22147339 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
“As it has already been demonstrated by Freund and colleagues, the emergence of individual exploratory behavior positively correlates with individual changes in neurogenesis [54].”
BackgroundPsychoactive pollution suppresses individual differences in fish behaviour
Polverino, G., Martin, J. M., Bertram, M. G., Soman, V. R., Tan, H., Brand, J. A., Mason, R. T., & Wong, B. B. M. (2021) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2294 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
“winning or losing when competing for resources) resulting in larger differences in behavioural strategies in adulthood [69].”
BackgroundGelfo, F. (2019) · Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00150 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
“, 2017; Kempermann, 2019), gliogenesis (Chakrabarti et al., 2011; Freund et al., 2013), angiogenesis (He et al.”
The emergence and development of behavioral individuality in clonal fish
Laskowski, K., Bierbach, D., Jolles, J., Doran, C., & Wolf, M. (2022) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34113-y · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Kahnau, P., Mieske, P., Wilzopolski, J., Kalliokoski, O., Mandillo, S., Hölter, S. M., Võikar, V., Amfim, A., Badurek, S., Bartelik, A., et al. (2023) · BMC Biology · doi:10.1186/s12915-023-01751-7 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“It has been shown that differences in activity are more stable over time, which allows more predictability [49, 92–94].”
BackgroundSelf-citationCognitive Reserve in Model Systems for Mechanistic Discovery: The Importance of Longitudinal Studies
McQuail, J. A., Dunn, A. R., Stern, Y., Barnes, C. A., Kempermann, G., Rapp, P. R., Kaczorowski, C. C., & Foster, T. C. (2021) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2020.607685 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Self-citationRFID-supported video tracking for automated analysis of social behaviour in groups of mice.
Peleh, T., Bai, X.-S., Kas, M., & Hengerer, B. (2019) · Journal of Neuroscience Methods · doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108323 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“However, further analysis is required to understand whether these dynamics changes result from individual variability in behavioural trajectories or whether they are influenced by the establishment of a social hierarchy (Freund et al., 2013; Uhrich, 1938).”
Savi, A. O., Marsman, M., van der Maas, H. L. J., & Maris, G. (2019) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691619866447 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Polverino, G., Ruberto, T., Staaks, G., & Mehner, T. (2016) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.013 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Freund, J., Brandmaier, A. M., Lewejohann, L., Kirste, I., Kritzler, M., Krüger, A., Sachser, N., Lindenberger, U., & Kempermann, G. (2015) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2015.05.027 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
“For an overview of the enclosure’s layout as well as details on cage maintenance procedures, see Freund et al. (2013).”
InfluentialSelf-citationKörholz, J., Zocher, S., Grzyb, A. N., Morisse, B., Poetzsch, A., Ehret, F., Schmied, C., & Kempermann, G. (2018) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.35690 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“We have previously argued that the active participation with the outer world and habitat that manifests itself in the individual range of locomotion within that world (roaming entropy) is a major driving force of brain plasticity, presumably not limited to adult hippocampal neurogenesis (Freund et al., 2013).”
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“This tracking methodology allowed researchers to follow 40 mice for several weeks in an enriched environment, and to correlate their individual behaviors with hippocampal neurogenesis [90] (Figure 1i).”
BackgroundMethodWithin-strain variation in behavior differs consistently between common inbred strains of mice
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“Nonetheless, in experimental studies employing isogenic (genetic identical) mice, in which environmental conditions are highly standardized to reduce environmental variation, behavioral differences between isogenic mice are observed (Gärtner 1990; Crabbe et al. 1999; Freund et al. 2013).”
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“Differential social phenotypes cannot be accounted for by genetic factors, and environmental factors are nearly identical within each condition, yet they emerge nevertheless in group housing [78].”
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“, 2020), we investigated real-world exploration in adults, using geolocation tracking to derive a measure of daily exploration or roaming entropy—the unpredictability of one’s location over time (Freund et al., 2013).”
BackgroundMethodAdult Neurogenesis in Mammals: Variations and Confusions
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Assessing animal individuality: links between personality and laterality in pigs
Goursot, C., Düpjan, S., Kanitz, E., Tuchscherer, A., Puppe, B., & Leliveld, L. (2018) · Current Zoology · doi:10.1093/cz/zoy071 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
“This first evidence of complex links between personality and laterality in pigs indicates that the neurophysiological processes underlying individuality (Freund et al. 2013) are shared between the 2.”
BackgroundSpatial cognition in mice and rats: similarities and differences in brain and behavior
Hok, V., Poucet, B., Duvelle, É., Save, É., & Sargolini, F. (2016) · Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1411 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
The structure of behavioral variation within a genotype
Werkhoven, Z., Bravin, A., Skutt-Kakaria, K., Reimers, P., Pallares, L. F., Ayroles, J., & de Bivort, B. (2019) · bioRxiv · doi:10.7554/elife.64988 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Genetic model systems hold particular promise for the mechanistic dissection of this variation, and intragenotypic variability (IGV) in behavior has been characterized in mice (Freund et al., 2013), zebrafish (Pantoja et al.”
BackgroundEmergence of consistent intra-individual locomotor patterns during zebrafish development
Fitzgerald, J. A., Kirla, K. T., Zinner, C., & Berg, C. V. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-49614-y · Cited by 54 · see citing works
- Authors
- Freund, J., Brandmaier, A. M., Lewejohann, L., Kirste, I., Kritzler, M., Krüger, A., Sachser, N., Lindenberger, U., & Kempermann, G.
- Affiliations
- Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (DE)
- Max Planck Institute for Human Development (DE)
- University of Münster (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Freund, Julia
- Brandmaier, Andreas M.
- Kempermann, Gerd
- ORCID
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2013-05-10
- Volume
- 340
- Issue
- 6133
- Pages
- 756-759
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2053065690
- Cited by
- 536
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 32 · 2025: 51 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 44 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 34 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 18
- FWCI
- 15.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DZNE Pub (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- International Max Planck Research School for Environmental, Cellular and Molecular Microbiology
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- National Institutes of Health (AI51794, U19 AI51794)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U19 AI 51794, AI 51794)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- individual differences, neuroplasticity, inbred mouse strains, exploratory activity, hippocampal neurogenesis, environmental enrichment, aging, nonshared environment, behavioral genetics
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Behavior, Animal, Body Weight, Brain, Female, Hippocampus, Individuality, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Inbred Strains, Neuronal Plasticity, Organ Size, Models, Animal, Mice, Neurogenesis
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