The neurogenomic transition from territory establishment to parenting in a territorial female songbird
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PROVIDER: PRJNA556858 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:The brain plays a critical role in upstream regulation of processes central to mating effort, parental effort, and self-maintenance. For seasonally breeding animals, the brain is likely mediating trade-offs among these processes within a short breeding season, yet research thus far has only explored neurogenomic changes from non-breeding to breeding states or select pathways (e.g., steroids) in male and/or lab-reared animals. Here, we use RNA-seq to explore neural plasticity in three behaviorally relevant neural tissues (ventromedial telencephalon [VmT], hypothalamus [HYPO], and hindbrain), comparing free-living female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) as they shift from territory establishment to incubation. We additionally highlight changes in candidate aggression-related genes to explore the potential for a neurogenomic shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression, a critical behavior both in establishing and maintaining a territory and in defense of offspring. We found hundreds of differentially expressed genes in the VmT and HYPO. Enrichment analyses for the VmT revealed higher expression of genes related to neuroplasticity and processes beneficial for competition during territory establishment, but down-regulated immune processes. The HYPO showed signs of high neuroplasticity during incubation, and a decreased potential for glucocorticoid signaling. Furthermore, expression of aggression-related genes shifted from steroidal to non-steroidal pathways across the breeding season. Altogether, we found genomic signatures suggestive of trade-offs between enhanced activity and immunity in the VmT and between stress responsiveness and parental care in the HYPO, along with a potential shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression. These data highlight important gene regulatory pathways that may underlie behavioral plasticity in females.
2019-11-19 | GSE134939 | GEO
Project description:BACKGROUND:The brain plays a critical role in upstream regulation of processes central to mating effort, parental effort, and self-maintenance. For seasonally breeding animals, the brain is likely mediating trade-offs among these processes within a short breeding season, yet research thus far has only explored neurogenomic changes from non-breeding to breeding states or select pathways (e.g., steroids) in male and/or lab-reared animals. Here, we use RNA-seq to explore neural plasticity in three behaviorally relevant neural tissues (ventromedial telencephalon [VmT], hypothalamus [HYPO], and hindbrain [HB]), comparing free-living female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) as they shift from territory establishment to incubation. We additionally highlight changes in aggression-related genes to explore the potential for a neurogenomic shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression, a critical behavior both in establishing and maintaining a territory and in defense of offspring. RESULTS:HB had few differentially expressed genes, but VmT and HYPO had hundreds. In particular, VmT had higher expression of genes related to neuroplasticity and processes beneficial for competition during territory establishment, but down-regulated immune processes. HYPO showed signs of high neuroplasticity during incubation, and a decreased potential for glucocorticoid signaling. Expression of aggression-related genes also shifted from steroidal to non-steroidal pathways across the breeding season. CONCLUSIONS:These patterns suggest trade-offs between enhanced activity and immunity in the VmT and between stress responsiveness and parental care in the HYPO, along with a potential shift in the mechanisms regulating aggression. Collectively, these data highlight important gene regulatory pathways that may underlie behavioral plasticity in females.
| S-EPMC6836416 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Motherhood is characterized by dramatic changes in brain and behavior, but less is known about fatherhood. Here we report that male sticklebacks – a small fish in which fathers provide care – experience dramatic changes in neurogenomic state as they become fathers. Some genes are unique to different stages of paternal care, some genes are shared across stages, and some genes are added to the previously acquired neurogenomic state. Comparative genomic analysis suggests that some of these neurogenomic dynamics resemble changes associated with pregnancy and reproduction in mammalian mothers. Moreover, gene regulatory analysis identified transcription factors that are regulated in opposite directions in response to a territorial challenge versus during paternal care. Altogether these results show that some of the molecular mechanisms of parental care might be deeply conserved and might not be sex-specific, and suggest that tradeoffs between opposing social behaviors are managed at the gene regulatory level.
2019-09-15 | GSE134508 | GEO
Project description:Neurogenomic insights into paternal care and its relation to territorial aggression
| PRJNA555357 | ENA
Project description:Songbirds provide rich natural models for studying the relationships of brain anatomy, behavioral function, environmental signals and gene expression. Under the Songbird Neurogenomics Initiative, investigators from more than a dozen laboratories collected brain samples from six species of songbird under a range of experimental conditions, and 488 of these samples were analyzed systematically for gene expression by microarray. ANOVA was used to test 32 planned contrasts in the data, revealing the relative impact of different factors. The brain region from which tissue was taken had the greatest influence on gene expression profile, affecting the majority of signals measured by the 18,848 non-redundant cDNAs spotted on the microarray. Social and environmental manipulations had highly variable impact, ranging from nil in some cases to robust in others. Several specific genes were identified as points of interest in the evolution of mechanisms by which environmental signals influence behavior. The data were also analyzed using Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) followed by Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. This revealed modules of co-regulated genes that are also enriched for specific functional annotations such as M-bM-^@M-^\ribosomeM-bM-^@M-^] (expressed more highly in juvenile brain) and M-bM-^@M-^\dopamine metabolic processM-bM-^@M-^] (expressed more highly in striatal song control nucleus Area X). These results underscore the complexity of influences on neural gene expression and provide a resource for studying how these influences are integrated during natural experience. RNA samples were collected from six different songbird species (phylogeny in SI Appendix, Figure S1) and representing 80 different M-bM-^@M-^\treatmentsM-bM-^@M-^], i.e., combinations of species, brain region, sex, age, and behavioral state. The tissue samples were organized around 15 standalone experiments (Table 1 and SI Appendix, Table S1), contributed by investigators in a dozen different laboratories but analyzed under uniform conditions in a single laboratory as originally planned under the Songbird Neurogenomics Initiative. Each sample was hybridized to a zebra finch cDNA array along with a universal reference (a pool of zebra finch telencephalic RNA). e14: Hypothalamus from adult male Song sparrows 30 minutes after Simulated Territorial Intrusion (STI) or control, in spring and fall, 8 biological replicates per group (only 7 biological replicates in Spring Control group). All samples were hybridized against the SoNG universal RNA reference pool.
2012-05-30 | E-GEOD-36746 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Prolonged social isolation has negative effects on brain and behavior in humans and other social organisms, but neural mechanisms leading to these effects are not understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that even brief periods of social isolation can alter gene expression and DNA methylation in higher cognitive centers of the brain, focusing on the auditory/associative forebrain of the highly social zebra finch. Using RNA sequencing, we first identified genes that individually increase or decrease expression after isolation and observed general repression of gene sets annotated for neurotrophin pathways and axonal guidance functions. We then pursued 4 genes of large effect size: EGR1 and BDNF (decreased by isolation) and FKBP5 and UTS2B (increased). By in situ hybridization, each gene responded in different cell subsets, arguing against a single cellular mechanism. To test whether effects were specific to the social component of the isolation experience, we compared gene expression in birds isolated either alone or with a single familiar partner. Partner inclusion ameliorated the effect of solo isolation on EGR1 and BDNF, but not on FKBP5 and UTS2B nor on circulating corticosterone. By bisulfite sequencing analysis of auditory forebrain DNA, isolation caused changes in methylation of a subset of differentially expressed genes, including BDNF. Thus, social isolation has rapid consequences on gene activity in a higher integrative center of the brain, triggering epigenetic mechanisms that may influence processing of ongoing experience.
| S-EPMC7519284 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Diverse animal species use multimodal communication signals to coordinate reproductive behavior. Despite active research in this field, however, the brain mechanisms underlying multimodal communication remain poorly understood. Although anuran amphibians rely on acoustic communication some anurans like humans and many mammalian species, often produce auditory signals accompanied by conspicuous visual signals (e.g. vocal-sac inflation). In this study, we used video playbacks to determine the role of vocal-sac inflation in little torrent frogs (Amolops torrentis). The results showed that auditory cues (i.e. male advertisement calls) as well as visual cues are attractive to female torrent frogs, although the auditory cue was more attractive than the visual cue. Moreover, females preferred simultaneous bimodal cues to unimodal cues. Then we exposed females to blank, visual, auditory and audiovisual stimuli and analyzed whole brain tissue gene expression changes using RNA-seq. The hierarchical clustering of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) showed that samples from the same behavioral stimulus category were more aggregative than those from different behavioral categories nearly forming a cluster, and implying a strong relationship between neurogenomic states and momentarily expressed sexual signals. We also found that the Gene Ontology (GO) terms and KEGG pathways involved in energy metabolism were mostly enriched in blank contrast versus visual, acoustic or audiovisual stimuli, suggesting that brain energy use plays a key role in the perception of these stimuli. Moreover, analyses of immediate early genes (IEGs) showed that only the c-fos gene was differently expressed in response to different stimuli. These results increase our understanding of how neurogenomic states reflect brain mechanisms mediating female preferences for different sexual cues.
2020-11-24 | GSE122947 | GEO
Project description:We investigated the transcriptomic response to territorial intrusion in four regions of the brain (telencephalon, diencephalon, cerebellum and brain stem) of a teleost fish, the threespined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We tested the hypothesis that gene regulatory networks modulate the transcriptional response to territorial intrusion in the different brain regions and thereby aggressive behavior. Indeed, transcription regulatory network analysis identified cis-regulatory transcription factor motifs enriched in upregulated genes in one brain region and downregulated in the others. We further validated our findings by showing that many of the differentially expressed genes in the diencephalon were positively correlated with levels of aggression in individual males. 2 conditions: control fish and fish that experienced intrusion into their territory, Biological replicates 5.Four brain regions. Sample 4BS was excluded from the analysis during data preprocessing because it was an outlier.
2012-11-21 | E-GEOD-32961 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:We characterized the behavior and brain gene expression profiles of males confronted by a tradeoff between courtship and territorial defense
2023-05-25 | GSE233058 | GEO
Project description:In many species, adults care for young offspring that are not their own, a phenomenon called alloparenting. However, most nonparental adults must be sensitized by repeated or extended exposure to pups before robustly displaying of parental-like behaviors. To capture neurogenomic events underlying the transition to active parental caring behaviors, we analyzed brain gene expression and chromatin profiles of virgin female mice co-housed with mothers during pregnancy and after birth. After an initial display of antagonistic behaviors and a surge of defense-related gene expression, we observed a dramatic shift in the chromatin landscape specifically in amygdala of the pup-exposed virgin females, accompanied by a dampening of defense-related gene expression. This epigenetic shift coincided with hypothalamic expression of the oxytocin gene and the emergence of behaviors and gene expression patterns classically associated with maternal care. The results outline a neurogenomic program associated with dramatic behavioral changes and suggest molecular networks relevant to human postpartum mental health.
2022-01-26 | GSE184549 | GEO