Behavioral tests for phenotype characterization
We first evaluated the effects of the heterozygous deletion ofPlcb1 on general behavioral responses, including locomotor, cognitive and emotional responses, food, and water intake.Plcb1+/- mice showed a lower discrimination index in the novel object recognition compared to WT (t -test=3.21,P <0.01, Figure 1B), suggesting an impairment in short-term memory. This difference was not influenced by exploration time, as this variable was equal between genotypes (Figure 1C). Furthermore, no differences in locomotor activity were reported between genotypes, discarding an involvement of the Plcb1 heterozygous deletion in locomotion (Figure 1D). Mutant mice showed increased exploratory activity with a higher number of rearings than the WT mice (U -Mann Whitney=67.5, P <0.01, Figure 1E). An anxiogenic profile was revealed in the elevated plus maze in mutants, as shown by the reduced time spent in the open arms (t -test=3.02,P <0.001, Figure 1F) and the percentage of time (t -test=3.16, P <0.001, Figure 1G). Finally, the rota rod test revealed that the heterozygous deletion of Plcb1did not affect motor coordination (Figure 1H-I).
Several consummatory and locomotor parameters were long-term monitored in the PheComp boxes (Supplementary Figure 1A-H, n=6 per genotype). No differences between genotypes were revealed during the whole experimental period in body weight, food, and water intake, levels of sucrose preference, stereotyped movements, horizontal and vertical locomotor activity, indicating no altered behavior in thePlcb1+/- mice.