Mapping the genes for the acoustic startle response (ASR) and prepulse inhibition of the ASR in the BXD recombinant inbred series: Effect of high-frequency hearing loss and cochlear pathology

The past decade has witnessed some remarkable advances in detecting and mapping the chromosomal position of genes associated with behavioral phenotypes. It is now clear that behavioral quantitative trait loci (QTLs) can be reproducibly mapped, with high log of odds (LOD) scores (Flint et al., 1995; Gershenfeld et al., 1997; Koyner et al., 2000), and that these QTL intervals can be reduced to 1 to 2 cM (Talbot et al., 1999; Demarest et al., 2000). Complimenting these advances, we now have a draft of the human genome and the mouse genome project should be completed soon. From these perspectives, QTL analyses will soon focus on selecting candidate genes within small QTL intervals and on determining which polymorphisms in the candidates selected are functionally relevant.