Project description:Social plasticity is a pervasive feature of animal behavior. Animals adjust the expression of their social behavior to the daily changes in social life and to transitions between life-history stages, and the ability to change in these ways impacts their Darwinian fitness. This behavioral plasticity may be achieved either by rewiring or by biochemically switching nodes of the neural network underlying the social behavior in response to perceived social information. Independent of the proximate mechanisms, at the neuromolecular level social plasticity relies on the regulation of gene expression, such that different neurogenomic states emerge in response to different social stimuli and the switches between states are orchestrated by signaling pathways that interface the social environment and the genotype. Here, we test this hypothesis by characterizing the changes in the brain profile of gene expression in response to social odors in the Mozambique Tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus. This species has a rich repertoire of social behaviors during which both visual and chemical information are conveyed to conspecifics. Specifically, dominant males increase their urination frequency during agonist encounters and during courtship to convey chemical information reflecting their dominance status. We recorded electro-olfactograms to test the extent to which the olfactory epithelium can discriminate between olfactory information from dominant and subordinate males as well as from pre- and post-spawning females. We then performed a genome-scale gene expression analysis of the olfactory bulb and the olfactory cortex homolog in order to identify the neuromolecular systems involved in processing these social stimuli. Our results show that different olfactory stimuli from conspecificsM-bM-^@M-^Y have a major impact in the brain transcriptome, with different chemical social cues eliciting specific patterns of gene expression in the brain. These results confirm the role of rapid changes in gene expression in the brain as a genomic mechanism underlying behavioural plasticity and reinforce the idea of an extensive transcriptional plasticity of cichlid genomes, especially in response to rapid changes in their social environment. Brain samples from 40 African cichlid males, Oreochromis mossambicus were collected after stimulation with different social olfactory stimuli. Samples were collected from 2 brain areas: BO and Dp after males were exposed to dominant (DOM) and subordinate (SUB) male urine and pre- (PRE) and post-ovulatory (POST) female scent. In OB 5 replicates were collected from males exposed to DOM and 6 to the other stimuli. For Dp 5 replicates were collected from males exposed to DOM and POST, 4 to SUB and 6 to PRE.

Project description:Sexual selection involves mate preference behavior and is a critical determinant for natural selection and evolutionary biology. Previously an environmental compound (fungicide vinclozolin) was found to promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of modified mate selection characteristics in all progeny for three generations after exposure of a gestating female. The current study investigated gene networks involved in various regions of the brain that correlated with the mate preference behavior altered in F3-Vinclozolin lineage animals. Statistically significant correlations of differentially expressed gene clusters and modules were identified to associate with specific mate preference behaviors. This novel systems biology approach identified critical gene networks involved in mate preference behavior and demonstrated the ability of environmental factors to promote epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of this altered evolutionary biology determinant. Combined observations elucidate the potential molecular control of mate preference behavior and suggests environmental epigenetics can have a role in evolutionary biology. We used Affymetrix Rat Gene 1.0 ST microarrays to determine genes expressed differentially in F3 Vinclozolin lineage male or female rats' 6 brain areas - amygdala (Amy), hippocampus (Hipp), olfactory bulb (OlfB), cingulate cortex (CngCtx), entorhinal cortex (EnCtx), and preoptic area-anterior hypothalamus (POAH) - due to Vinclozolin treatments of their grand-grandmothers (F0). For each of 6 brain areas of male or female rats (female: amygdala (F-Amy), cingulate cortex (F-CngCTX), enterorhinal cortex (F-EnCTX), hippocampus (F-Hipp), olfactory bulbs (F-OlfB), and preoptic area-anterior hypothalamus (F-POAH); male: amygdala (M-Amy), cingulate cortex (M-CngCTX), enterorhinal cortex (M-EnCTX), hippocampus (M-Hipp), olfactory bulbs (M-OlfB), and preoptic area-anterior hypothalamus (M-POAH)), RNA samples from 2 treatment groups - F3 Control lineage (Con) or F3 Vinclozolin lineage (Vin) - were compared to each other. Each of treatment groups contained 4-6 biological replicas for each brain region. RNA for each replica was isolated from an individual animal in order to compare to individual animal mate preference behavior studied with the same rats before sacrifice. Totally, 132 RNA samples from 24 animals (6 male F3 Control, 6 male F3 Vinclozolin,6 female F3 Control, and 6 female F3 Vinclozolin) were isolated and studied.

Project description:Social plasticity is a pervasive feature of animal behavior. Animals adjust the expression of their social behavior to the daily changes in social life and to transitions between life-history stages, and the ability to change in these ways impacts their Darwinian fitness. This behavioral plasticity may be achieved either by rewiring or by biochemically switching nodes of the neural network underlying the social behavior in response to perceived social information. Independent of the proximate mechanisms, at the neuromolecular level social plasticity relies on the regulation of gene expression, such that different neurogenomic states emerge in response to different social stimuli and the switches between states are orchestrated by signaling pathways that interface the social environment and the genotype. Here, we test this hypothesis by characterizing the changes in the brain profile of gene expression in response to social odors in the Mozambique Tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus. This species has a rich repertoire of social behaviors during which both visual and chemical information are conveyed to conspecifics. Specifically, dominant males increase their urination frequency during agonist encounters and during courtship to convey chemical information reflecting their dominance status. We recorded electro-olfactograms to test the extent to which the olfactory epithelium can discriminate between olfactory information from dominant and subordinate males as well as from pre- and post-spawning females. We then performed a genome-scale gene expression analysis of the olfactory bulb and the olfactory cortex homolog in order to identify the neuromolecular systems involved in processing these social stimuli. Our results show that different olfactory stimuli from conspecifics’ have a major impact in the brain transcriptome, with different chemical social cues eliciting specific patterns of gene expression in the brain. These results confirm the role of rapid changes in gene expression in the brain as a genomic mechanism underlying behavioural plasticity and reinforce the idea of an extensive transcriptional plasticity of cichlid genomes, especially in response to rapid changes in their social environment.

Dataset Information

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets