Fish and chips: functional genomics of social plasticity in an African cichlid fish.

ABSTRACT: Behavior and physiology are regulated by both environment and social context. A central goal in the study of the social control of behavior is to determine the underlying physiological, cellular and molecular mechanisms in the brain. The African cichlid fish Astatotilapia burtoni has long been used as a model system to study how social interactions regulate neural and behavioral plasticity. In this species, males are either socially dominant and reproductively active or subordinate and reproductively suppressed. This phenotypic difference is reversible. Using an integrative approach that combines quantitative behavioral measurements, functional genomics and bioinformatic analyses, we examine neural gene expression in dominant and subordinate males as well as in brooding females. We confirm

SUBMITTER: Renn SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3728697 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature