Project description:We used a combination of ChIPseq, RNAseq, bioinformatic analysis, and molecular biology in the auditory forebrain, a brain area required for tutor song memorization to elucidate the role epigenetics plays in song learning. These analyses revealed thousands of genes were differentially marked by PTMs under these two conditions, indicating greater transcription in the birds with extended learning.
Project description:Within the overall project, we performed a set of microarrays to validate RNAseq data. In this data set, we compare the expression data of song nuclei to the optical tectrum dissected from adult canaries housed at long day cycles to identify nuclei specific genes.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of courtship song stimulated females in Drosophila melanogaster comparing females exposed to conspecific song to those exposed to either white-noise (control) or heterospecific song (D. simulans)
Project description:Daily activity times and circadian rhythms of crickets have been a subject of behavioral and physiological study for decades. However, recent studies suggest that the underlying molecular mechanism of cricket endogenous clocks differ from the model of circadian rhythm generation in Drosophila. Here we examine the circadian free-running periods of walking and singing in two Hawaiian swordtail cricket species, Laupala cerasina and Laupala paranigra, that differ in the daily timing of mating related activities. Additionally, we examine variation in sequence and daily cycling of the period (per) gene transcript between these species. The species differed significantly in free-running period of singing, but did not differ significantly in the free-running period of locomotion. Like in Drosophila, per transcript abundance showed cycling consistent with a role in circadian rhythm generation. The amino acid differences identified between these species suggest a potential of the per gene in interspecific behavioral variation in Laupala.