Cellular profiling of a recently-evolved social behavior in cichlid fishes

Zachary V. Johnson (), Brianna E. Hegarty, George W. Gruenhagen, Tucker J. Lancaster, Patrick T. McGrath () and Jeffrey T. Streelman ()
Additional contact information
Zachary V. Johnson: Georgia Institute of Technology
Brianna E. Hegarty: Georgia Institute of Technology
George W. Gruenhagen: Georgia Institute of Technology
Tucker J. Lancaster: Georgia Institute of Technology
Patrick T. McGrath: Georgia Institute of Technology
Jeffrey T. Streelman: Georgia Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Abstract Social behaviors are diverse in nature, but it is unclear how conserved genes, brain regions, and cell populations generate this diversity. Here we investigate bower-building, a recently-evolved social behavior in cichlid fishes. We use single nucleus RNA-sequencing in 38 individuals to show signatures of recent behavior in specific neuronal populations, and building-associated rebalancing of neuronal proportions in the putative homolog of the hippocampal formation. Using comparative genomics across 27 species, we trace bower-associated genome evolution to a subpopulation of glia lining the dorsal telencephalon. We show evidence that building-associated neural activity and a departure from quiescence in this glial subpopulation together regulate hippocampal-like neuronal rebalancing. Our work links behavior-associated genomic variation to specific brain cell types and their functions, and suggests a social behavior has evolved through changes in glia.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40331-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40331-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40331-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().