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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2002-09 > 1031198248


From: "Bonner, Gregg" <>
Subject: [DNA] calf instinct
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2002 23:57:31 -0400


It probably has something to do with genes that produce proteins like the
G-protein coupled receptors and others, and neurotransmitters and such. The
searching for a nipple is probably something like the chemical elements in
milk having a volatility such that a sufficient quantity is received in the
nose of the calf AND which is also enough to cause the receptors in the
calf's nose to pass over the transition state of the receptor and cause the
heterotrimeric G-proteins to dissociate, leading to a change in cAMP levels
which cause a change in action potential along a neuro circuit that leads to
the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (or elsewhere) which causes a 3rd
messenger to activate the release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens which
causes a feedback through the motor cortex to signal to the muscle fibers to
contract and promote a positive feedback whereby the calf moves a little
closer to his mother, until which point his receptors are saturated, and the
whole process is downregulated so that the calf stops walking at exactly the
time he reaches his mother.

The question that has always troubled me is, what carries the instinct in me
so that I do not stare directly into the sun for hours on end? I never did
stare directly into the sun for hours on end, even before the admonitions by
my parents and others. So there must be a
"don't-stare-directly-into-the-sun-for-hours-on-end" gene, n'estcafe?

Cheers,

Gregg

>An additional or side question that has been bugging me for a long time.
What carries 'instinct' from generation to generation. How does a newborn
calf know to stand up, walk around its mother and search for a nipple to
nurse?

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