Life history, serotonin transporter genotype and anxiety-like behaviour: testing the "coping-with-challenge hypothesis" (A01)

• Subject Area: Human Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience ; Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
• Term: from 2008 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 44541416

The project aims at investigating the interplay between genetic factors and experiences throughout lifetime in shaping the anxiety-like phenotype. In three consecutive experiments, the "coping-with-challenge hypothesis" will be tested that posits: Coping with adversity has beneficial effects on the anxious profile when following positive experiences earlier in life. For this purpose an established model of anxiety - mice varying in serotonin transporter genotype - will be studied using methods from behavioural biology, cognitive psychology and molecular genetics.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 58: Fear, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Co-Applicant Institution: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Klaus-Peter Lesch; Professorin Dr. Sophie Helene Richter; Professor Dr. Norbert Sachser