Novel brain gene-expression patterns are associated with a novel predaceous behaviour in tadpoles.

ABSTRACT: Novel behaviours can spur evolutionary change and sometimes even precede morphological innovation, but the evolutionary and developmental contexts for their origins can be elusive. One proposed mechanism to generate behavioural innovation is a shift in the developmental timing of gene-expression patterns underlying an ancestral behaviour, or molecular heterochrony. Alternatively, novel suites of gene expression, which could provide new contexts for signalling pathways with conserved behavioural functions, could promote novel behavioural variation. To determine the relative contributions of these alternatives to behavioural innovation, I used a species of spadefoot toad, Spea bombifrons. Based on environmental cues, Spea larvae develop as either of two morphs: 'omnivores' that

SUBMITTER: Ledon-Rettig CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8059980 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature