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
More filters
Posted ContentDOI
Immediate early gene activation throughout the brain is associated with dynamic changes in social context
TL;DR: It is shown that following removal of the alpha male, beta males rapidly ascend the social hierarchy and attain dominant status by increasing aggression towards more subordinate individuals.
Posted ContentDOI
Hormonal regulation of social ascent and temporal patterns of behavior in an African cichlid
TL;DR: The results indicate androgen signaling drives social ascent, but hormonal signaling and social experience shape the full suite of DOM-typical behavioral patterns.
Posted ContentDOI
Evolution of regulatory networks associated with traits under selection in cichlids
Tarang K. Mehta,Christopher Koch,Will Nash,Sara A. Knaack,Padhmanand Sudhakar,Marton Olbei,Sarah Bastkowski,Luca Penso-Dolfin,Tamas Korcsmaros,Wilfried Haerty,Sushmita Roy,Federica Di-Palma +11 more
TL;DR: This approach revealed numerous novel potential candidate regulatory regions across cichlid genomes with no prior association, as well as those with previously reported associations to known adaptive evolutionary traits, thus providing proof of concept.
Journal ArticleDOI
Immediate early gene expression related to learning and retention of a visual discrimination task in bamboo sharks ( Chiloscyllium griseum )
Theodora Fuss,Vera Schluessel +1 more
TL;DR: The presence of the egr-1 gene seems to be evolutionarily conserved and may therefore be particularly useful for identifying functional neural responses within this group of sharks, suggesting important similarities in the neuronal plasticity and activity-dependent IEG expression of the elasmobranch brain with other vertebrate groups.
Journal ArticleDOI
Neural endocannabinoid CB1 receptor expression, social status, and behavior in male European starlings.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used quantitative real-time PCR to measure expression of CB1 receptors in brain regions involved in social behavior and motivation (lateral septum [LS], ventral tegmental area [VTA], medial preoptic nucleus [POM]) and vocal behavior (Area X and robust nucleus of the arcopallium; RA).
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Are subordinates always stressed? a comparative analysis of rank differences in cortisol levels among primates
David H. Abbott,Eric B. Keverne,Fred B. Bercovitch,Carol A. Shively,Sally P. Mendoza,Wendy Saltzman,Charles T. Snowdon,Toni E. Ziegler,M Banjevic,Theodore Garland,Robert M. Sapolsky +10 more
TL;DR: The meta-analysis identified two variables that significantly predictedrelative cortisol levels: subordinates exhibited higher relative cortisol levels when they were subjected to higher rates of stressors and experienced decreased opportunities for social (including close kin) support.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.