Chipping away at complex behavior: Transcriptome/phenotype correlations inthe mouse brain

Highly parallel gene expression profiling has the potential to provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms of complex brain diseases and behavio ral traits. We review how gene expression profiling in various brain region s of inbred mouse strains has been used to identify genes that may contribu te to strain-specific phenotypes. New data, which demonstrate the use of ge ne expression profiling in combination with behavioral testing to identify candidate genes involved in mediating variation in running wheel activity a re also presented. These and other studies suggest that a combination of ge ne expression profiling and more traditional genetic approaches, such as qu antitative trait locus analysis, can be used to identify genes responsible for specific neurobehavioral phenotypes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.