RATTACA – Rat Genes

RATTACA (RAT Trait Ascertainment using Common Alleles) uses genetic prediction to identify rats that would exhibit extreme phenotypes for addiction-related traits that we have previously studied.

This prediction relies on the large datasets that we have already collected. We can predict behavioral phenotypes including locomotor activity; measures of anxiety-like behavior; delay discounting; Pavlovian Conditioned Approach; self-administration of addictive substances including heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, and nicotine; and measures of analgesia in the presence or absence of opioid drugs. We can also predict physiological measures including body weight, body length, and BMI.

[See also: P30 Core B: Breeding Core]

Information

For more information on our RATTACA research service, click here.

For technical details, check this bioRxiv preprint.

Want a digestible summary? Check out this pretty poster.

Are you interested in predicting behavioral phenotypes (and more) in HS rats? Browse our trait list and contact Dr. Palmer for more info!

Request deadlines

Requests for RATTACA generation 106 are open! The anticipated shipment date for gen106 rats is July 9, 2025. Please submit a request no later than June 20, 2025 so we can coordinate details with you. Animal transfer protocols can get complicated and potentially bottleneck shipments, so the earlier we can coordinate your request, the better.

Requests for RATTACA generation 107 are also open! The anticipated shipment date for gen107 rats is October 8, 2025. Please submit a request no later than September 19, 2025.

Requests

To request RATTACA rats and/or trait predictions, please fill out a request form here.

Results

For a walkthrough of your RATTACA results (or to see what to expect from a future request), click here.

Available Traits

Browse our trait list here:

Training datasets available for predictions

(98 entries total)

Experiment/Project	Principal Investigator	Drug	Behavioral domain	Trait	Age, d	N	h2
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	drug self-administration	short access to cocaine, total infusions	100	446	0.23
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	drug self-administration	intermittent access, total infusions	100	446	0.19
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	drug self-administration	post-cocaine anxiety	100	378	0.36
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	–	anxiety	baseline anxiety	80	384	0.21
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	drug self-administration	incentive sensitization – breakpoint	100	446	0.10
Short access and Intermittent access to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	drug self-administration	compulsive cocaine intake	100	373	0.05
Locomotor	Hao Chen	–	locomotor	total distance over 21 min	32	1857	0.23
Locomotor	Hao Chen	–	anxiety	duration in the center over 21 min	32	1398	0.05
Novelty seeking	Hao Chen	–	sensation seeking	transitions to center zone frequency	33	1806	0.12
Novelty seeking	Hao Chen	–	sensation seeking	duration in center zone	33	1806	0.10
Novelty seeking	Hao Chen	–	sensation seeking	distance traveled in novel environment	33	1963	0.15
Novelty seeking	Shelly Flagel	–	sensation seeking	transitions to novel environment zone	72	1310	0.37
Novelty seeking	Shelly Flagel	–	sensation seeking	distance traveled in novel environment	72	1310	0.24
Social reinforcement	Hao Chen	–	social reinforcement	duration in social zone	34	1725	0.16
Social reinforcement	Hao Chen	–	social reinforcement	latency to enter social zone	34	1745	0.18
Elevated plus maze	Hao Chen	–	anxiety, sensation seeking	duration in open arm	35	1812	0.19
Elevated plus maze	Hao Chen	–	anxiety	duration in center	35	1842	0.17
Socially acquired nicotine self administration	Hao Chen	nicotine	drug self-administration	total infusions	42	1995	0.22
Socially acquired nicotine self administration	Hao Chen	nicotine	drug self-administration	ratio between active and inactive licks	42	1995	0.26
Socially acquired nicotine self administration	Hao Chen	nicotine	drug self-administration	progressive ratio	42	1920	0.18
Socially acquired nicotine self administration	Hao Chen	nicotine	drug self-administration	reinstatement	42	1881	0.15
Conditioned place preference to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	addiction	change in locomotor activity after cocaine	169	1674	0.04
Conditioned place preference to cocaine	Paul Meyer	cocaine	addiction	post-test time on conditioned side	170	1674	0.04
Conditioned reinforcement	Paul Meyer	–	learning	lever presses during conditioned reinforcement	163	1628	0.22
Conditioned reinforcement	Paul Meyer	–	learning	magasine responses during conditioned reinforcement	163	1628	0.24
Conditioned reinforcement	Shelly Flagel	–	learning	lever presses during conditioned reinforcement	69	1583	0.20
Conditioned reinforcement	Shelly Flagel	–	learning	magasine responses during conditioned reinforcement	69	1592	0.20
Pavlovian conditioning	Paul Meyer	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA index score	196	1645	0.15
Pavlovian conditioning	Paul Meyer	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA latency score	196	1645	0.12
Pavlovian conditioning	Paul Meyer	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA probability difference	196	1645	0.14
Pavlovian conditioning	Paul Meyer	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA response bias	196	1645	0.15
Pavlovian conditioning	Shelly Flagel	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA index score	64	1583	0.15
Pavlovian conditioning	Shelly Flagel	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA latency score	64	1591	0.15
Pavlovian conditioning	Shelly Flagel	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA probability difference	64	1583	0.14
Pavlovian conditioning	Shelly Flagel	–	attribution of incentive salience to reward cues	PavCA response bias	64	1583	0.10
Cocaine contextual conditioning	Shelly Flagel	–	locomotor	locomotor distance baseline	77	1376	0.25
Cocaine contextual conditioning	Shelly Flagel	cocaine	addiction	locomotor distance after cocaine conditioning	77	1376	0.26
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	LgA long access total heroin intake	81	862	0.22
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	ShA escalation of heroin intake	75	874	0.04
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	progressive ratio breakpoints	101	862	0.13
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	extinction bursts	106	862	0.12
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	–	anxiety, sensation seeking	EPM duration in open arm baseline	68	850	0.17
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	EPM duration in open arm after heroin	117	850	0.08
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	–	locomotor	OFT distance baseline	68	858	0.15
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	drug self-administration	OFT distance after heroin	117	858	0.26
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	–	pain sensitivity	tail flick baseline	68	847	0.19
Short access and Long access to heroin	Peter Kalivas	heroin	analgesia	tail flick after single inj of heroin	116	846	0.06
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	drug self-administration	LgA long access intake last 3 days	78	700	0.10
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	drug self-administration	ShA short access intake last 2 days	67	711	0.14
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	drug self-administration	addiction index	101	531	0.09
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	–	motivation	progressive ratio baseline	65	530	0.06
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	drug self-administration	progressive ratio after ShA	75	704	0.18
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	drug self-administration	progressive ratio after LgA	101	625	0.10
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	–	pain sensitivity	tail flick baseline	65	785	0.15
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	analgesia	tail flick after oxycodone	102	742	0.12
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	–	pain sensitivity	von Frey baseline	65	812	0.13
Short access and Long access to oxycodone	Olivier George	oxycodone	analgesia	von Frey after oxycodone	102	791	0.13
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	LgA long access intake in the last 3 days	102	779	0.01
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	ShA short access intake last 2 days	68	790	0.08
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	addiction index	115	771	0.08
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	progressive ratio after ShA	108	787	0.11
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	progressive ratio after LgA	115	771	0.03
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	irritability change after cocaine	116	372	0.12
Short access and Long access to cocaine	Olivier George	cocaine	drug self-administration	foot shock	115	546	0.06
Cocaine avoidance and punishment resistance	Thomas John	–	locomotor	novelty-induced locomotion	87	710	0.16
Cocaine avoidance and punishment resistance	Thomas Jhou	cocaine	shock escape	punishment resistance	92	925	0.30
Cocaine avoidance and punishment resistance	Thomas Jhou	cocaine	addiction	progressive ratio	92	837	0.08
Delay discounting	Suzanne Mitchell	–	delay discounting	K exponential curve fit of the delay discounting curve (time vs. indifference point)	95	644	0.24
Locomotor activity	Suzanne Mitchell	–	locomotor	locomotor total distance	90	629	0.41
Locomotor activity	Suzanne Mitchell	–	locomotor	locomotor rearing	90	629	0.26
Locomotor activity	David Dietz	–	locomotor	locomotor total distance	63	2494	0.28
Locomotor activity	David Dietz	–	locomotor	locomotor rearing	63	2494	0.27
Novelty seeking	David Dietz	–	sensation seeking	distance traveled in a novel environment	68	2509	0.27
Light cue reactivity	David Dietz	–	sensation seeking	active snout-poke responses	89	2390	0.28
Light cue reactivity	David Dietz	–	impulsivity, habituation	inactive snout-poke responses	89	2406	0.15
Patch-depletion foraging test	David Dietz	–	foraging	AUC of the delay discounting curve (time vs. indifference point)	137	2375	0.05
Choice reaction time test	David Dietz	–	attention	mean reaction time	118	2453	0.20
Choice reaction time test	David Dietz	–	attention	omissions	118	2454	0.22
Choice reaction time test	David Dietz	–	impulsivity	false alarms	118	2453	0.18
Social task	David Dietz	–	social reinforcement	–	70	2251	0.12
Forsed swim test	Leah Solberg Woods	–	depression	average motion	31	515	0.13
Food and water consumption	Derek Daniels	–	feeding	food intake	192	817	0.16
		–	feeding	water intake	192	805	0.23
Body and adipose weight	Leah Solberg Woods	varies	obesity	body weight	73 – 198	3173	0.46
		varies	obesity	body length	73 – 198	3173	0.36
		varies	obesity	retroperitoneal fat weight	73 – 198	3173	0.42
		varies	obesity	fasting glucose	73 – 198	3173	0.15
Musculoskeletal	Arimantas Lionikas	varies	tibia length	tibia length	52 – 279	3516	0.48
Musculoskeletal	Arimantas Lionikas	varies	muscle mass	soleus mass	52 – 279	3513	0.41
Musculoskeletal	Arimantas Lionikas	varies	muscle mass	extensor digitorum longus mass	52 – 279	3510	0.52
Musculoskeletal	Arimantas Lionikas	varies	muscle mass	tibialis anterior mass	52 – 279	3514	0.47
Musculoskeletal	Douglas Adams	varies	bone length	bone length	52 – 279	1741	0.40
Musculoskeletal	Douglas Adams	varies	bone composition	bone surface	52 – 279	1742	0.34
Musculoskeletal	Douglas Adams	varies	bone composition	bone density	52 – 279	1742	0.30
Musculoskeletal	Douglas Adams	varies	bone composition	bone cortical porosity	52 – 279	1741	0.05
Musculoskeletal	Douglas Adams	varies	bone composition	bone cortical thickness	52 – 279	1742	0.36
Microbiome and metabolome	Amelie Baud	varies	cecal microbiome	multiple	varies	1600	0 – 0.15
Microbiome and metabolome	Amelie Baud	varies	cecal metabolome	multiple	varies	1000	0 – 0.15

Trait list data as of October 2024

Page updated:

April 22, 2025