Fig. 1

Social and communicative impairments in Spred1-/- mice. A, B Automated tube test for social dominance. A Mean percentage of matches won per day in the automated tube test across 5 days of tournaments between WT and Spred1-/- mice, 129T2/SEMvJ background. Significant effect of genotype on days 1–4 (Two tailed binomial test compared to chance (50%): day 1 p < 0.0001; day 2 p < 0.0001; day 3 p = 0.011; day 4 p < 0. 0001). Box and whisker plots of median and quartiles of 2 independent experiments, pooled; n = 8 male mice/genotype. B Mean percentage of matches won per day in the tube test across 5 days of tournaments between WT and Spred1-/- female mice on the 129T2/SVEmJ background. Significant effect of genotype on days 1, 3, 4 and 5 (Two tailed binomial test compared to chance (50%): day 1 p = 0.0011; day 3 p = 0.0011; day 4 p = 0.0251; day 5 p = 0. 01). Box and whisker plots of median and quartiles of 2 independent experiments, pooled; n = 8 mice/genotype. C–F USVs from WT and Spred1-/- male mice (B6 background) to a novel B6 female: C Number of USV calls/min made by male mice (unpaired t-test, t = 4.481, df = 27 p = 0.0001). D Mean call duration of male mice in response to a novel female (Mann Whitney test, p = 0.0002). E Mean peak frequency of USV calls (unpaired t-test, t = 1.001, df = 27, p = 0.3258). F Mean peak amplitude of USV calls (unpaired t-test, t = 0.8998, df = 27, p = 0.3762). n = 14–15 mice/genotype, mean ± SEM. G Nest building score of female Spred1-/- and WT mice (B6 background) after 24 h, indicating quality of nest building. 1 = no nest shredding; 5 = high-sided nest with all material shredded (unpaired t-test, t = 3.496, df = 34, p = 0.0013). n = 17–19 mice/genotype, mean ± SEM. For all figures, asterisks indicate: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001