Rapid behavioral and genomic responses to social opportunity.
TLDR
It is shown for the first time that subordinate males can become dominant within minutes of an opportunity to do so, displaying dramatic changes in body coloration and behavior and induction of egr-1 in the anterior preoptic area by social opportunity could be an early trigger in the molecular cascade that culminates in enhanced fertility and other long-term physiological changes associated with dominance.Abstract:
From primates to bees, social status regulates reproduction. In the cichlid fish Astatotilapia (Haplochromis) burtoni, subordinate males have reduced fertility and must become dominant to reproduce. This increase in sexual capacity is orchestrated by neurons in the preoptic area, which enlarge in response to dominance and increase expression of gonadotropin-releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1), a peptide critical for reproduction. Using a novel behavioral paradigm, we show for the first time that subordinate males can become dominant within minutes of an opportunity to do so, displaying dramatic changes in body coloration and behavior. We also found that social opportunity induced expression of the immediate-early gene egr-1 in the anterior preoptic area, peaking in regions with high densities of GnRH1 neurons, and not in brain regions that express the related peptides GnRH2 and GnRH3. This genomic response did not occur in stable subordinate or stable dominant males even though stable dominants, like ascending males, displayed dominance behaviors. Moreover, egr-1 in the optic tectum and the cerebellum was similarly induced in all experimental groups, showing that egr-1 induction in the anterior preoptic area of ascending males was specific to this brain region. Because egr-1 codes for a transcription factor important in neural plasticity, induction of egr-1 in the anterior preoptic area by social opportunity could be an early trigger in the molecular cascade that culminates in enhanced fertility and other long-term physiological changes associated with dominance.read more
Citations
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Timing reproduction in teleost fish: cues and mechanisms.
TL;DR: Known mechanisms that generate sexual behavior are reviewed, focusing on the factors that govern the timing of these displays.
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Singing, but not seizure, induces synaptotagmin IV in zebra finch song circuit nuclei.
A. Poopatanapong,Ikuko Teramitsu,J.S. Byun,Linda Vician,Harvey R. Herschman,Stephanie A. White +5 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that neural activity during singing can drive Syt IV expression within song circuitry whereas generalized seizure activity fails to do so even though song control areas are depolarized.
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Modular genetic control of social status in a cichlid fish
Beau A. Alward,Vibhav A Laud,Christopher J Skalnik,Ryan A. York,Scott A. Juntti,Scott A. Juntti,Russell D. Fernald +6 more
TL;DR: It is discovered that two paralogous androgen receptor genes control social status in the African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni in a highly modular manner, and that ARβ, but not ARα, is required for testes growth and bright coloration, while ARα and ARβ are required for the performance of reproductive behavior and aggressive displays.
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Social regulation of maternal traits in nest-founding bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) queens
TL;DR: Evidence is found that brain gene expression in nest-founding queens is altered by the presence of workers, with the effect being much stronger in late-stage founding queens.
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Social rank‐dependent expression of arginine vasotocin in distinct preoptic regions in male Oryzias latipes
TL;DR: This study examined arginine vasotocin expression in the brains of dominant and subordinate male medaka Oryzias latipes after short- and long-term competition.
References
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Are subordinates always stressed? a comparative analysis of rank differences in cortisol levels among primates
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For Whom The Bird Sings: Context-Dependent Gene Expression
TL;DR: It is shown that the anterior forebrain vocal pathway contains medial and lateral "cortical-basal ganglia" subdivisions that have differential ZENK gene activation depending on whether the bird sings female-directed or undirected song.
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The EGR family of transcription-regulatory factors: progress at the interface of molecular and systems neuroscience
TL;DR: Recent systems-based studies underscore the remarkable sensitivity and specificity of the induction of the expression of genes encoding EGR-family members in naturally occurring plasticity paradigms, but they also challenge conventional views of the role of this family in plasticity.
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The Egr-1 transcription factor directly activates PTEN during irradiation-induced signalling
TL;DR: The PTEN tumour suppressor and pro-apoptotic gene is frequently mutated in human cancers and loss of Egr-1 expression could deregulate the PTEN gene and contribute to the radiation resistance of some cancer cells.
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The Genomic Action Potential
TL;DR: Critical review of the large literature describing the "immediate early gene" response leads to an alternative model of IEG function in the brain, which sets the overall gain or efficiency of memory formation and directs it to circuits engaged by behaviorally significant contexts.