Evolutionary patterns of adaptive acrobatics and physical performance predict expression profiles of androgen receptor - but not oestrogen receptor - in the forelimb musculature.

ABSTRACT: 1. Superior physical competence is vital to the adaptive behavioral routines of many animals, particularly those that engage in elaborate socio-sexual displays. How such traits evolve across species remains unclear. 2. Recent work suggests that activation of sex steroid receptors in neuromuscular systems is necessary for the fine motor skills needed to execute physically elaborate displays. Thus, using passerine birds as models, we test whether interspecific variation in display complexity predicts species differences in the abundance of androgen and estrogen receptors (AR and ERα) expressed in the forelimb musculature and spinal cord. 3. We find that small-scale evolutionary patterns in physical display complexity positively predict expression of the AR in the main mu

SUBMITTER: Fuxjager MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4628914 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature