Morgan Wirthlin

TL;DR: A high-coverage, annotated assembly of the genome of the blue-fronted Amazon is generated and parrot-specific changes in conserved regulatory sequences were overwhelmingly associated with genes that are linked to cognitive abilities and have undergone similar selection in the human lineage, suggesting convergent evolution.

TL;DR: It is suggested that vocal learning is a multi-component behavioral phenotype comprised of distinct yet interconnected modules and the need for diversifying the field in order to disentangle the complexity of the vocal learning phenotype is highlighted.

TL;DR: A molecular characterization of the arcsopallium in the zebra finch, a passerine songbird species and a major model organism for vocal learning studies is presented and the use of AMV (instead of nucleus taenia/TnA), AMD, AD, and AI are proposed as initial steps toward a universal arcopallial nomenclature.

TL;DR: This study reveals novel genes unique to songbirds, including some that may subserve their unique vocal control system, substantially improves the quality of Zebra finch genome annotations, and contributes to a better understanding of how genomic features may have evolved in conjunction with the emergence of the songbird lineage.

TL;DR: The Zebra finch Expression Brain Atlas (ZEBrA) is a web‐based resource that maps the expression of genes linked to a broad range of functions onto the brain of zebra finches, a first of its kind gene expression brain atlas for a bird species and a first for any sauropsid.