Brain Transcriptomics of Agonistic Behaviour in the Weakly Electric Fish Gymnotus Omarorum, a Wild Teleost Model of Non-breeding Aggression

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2020 Jun 13

PMID 32528029

Citations 8

Authors

Guillermo Eastman

Guillermo Valino

Santiago Radio

Rebecca L Young

Laura Quintana

Harold H Zakon

Hans A Hofmann

Jose Sotelo-Silveira

Ana Silva

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Differences in social status are often mediated by agonistic encounters between competitors. Robust literature has examined social status-dependent brain gene expression profiles across vertebrates, yet social status and reproductive state are often confounded. It has therefore been challenging to identify the neuromolecular mechanisms underlying social status independent of reproductive state. Weakly electric fish, Gymnotus omarorum, display territorial aggression and social dominance independent of reproductive state. We use wild-derived G. omarorum males to conduct a transcriptomic analysis of non-breeding social dominance relationships. After allowing paired rivals to establish a dominance hierarchy, we profiled the transcriptomes of brain sections containing the preoptic area (region involved in regulating aggressive behaviour) in dominant and subordinate individuals. We identified 16 differentially expressed genes (FDR < 0.05) and numerous genes that co-varied with behavioural traits. We also compared our results with previous reports of differential gene expression in other teleost species. Overall, our study establishes G. omarorum as a powerful model system for understanding the neuromolecular bases of social status independent of reproductive state.

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