Constance Scharff

TL;DR: Recent studies in songbirds show that during times of song plasticity FoxP2 is upregulated in a striatal region essential for song learning, which suggests that FoxP1 plays important roles both in the development of neural circuits and in the postnatal behaviors they mediate.

TL;DR: Testing a set for 14 candidate reference genes on different tissues of the mallard, domestic chicken, common crane, white-tailed eagle, domestic turkey, cockatiel, ostrich and zebra finch revealed five genes that were stably expressed within each group and also between the singing and silent conditions, establishing them as suitable reference genes.

TL;DR: Network approaches provide biologically meaningful parameters to describe the song structure of species with extremely large repertoires and complex rules of song retrieval, and potential functions of the network properties of song sequences in the framework of vocal leadership are discussed.

TL;DR: It is described that the majority of new neurons in postembryonic Area X of male zebra finches expressed DARPP32 but not choline acetyltransferase or parvalbumin, suggesting that they are spiny neurons, which raises the possibility that neuronal recruitment and FoxP2 expression in Area X are associated with vocal learning.

TL;DR: These findings raise the possibility that within HVC IGF-II acts as a paracrine signal between nonreplaceable area X-projecting neurons and replaceable RA- projecting neurons, a mode of action that is compatible with the involvement of IGF- II with the replacement of neurons.