Cellular transcriptomics reveals evolutionary identities of songbird vocal circuits.

ABSTRACT: Birds display advanced behaviors, including vocal learning and problem-solving, yet lack a layered neocortex, a structure associated with complex behavior in mammals. To determine whether these behavioral similarities result from shared or distinct neural circuits, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the neuronal repertoire of the songbird song motor pathway. Glutamatergic vocal neurons had considerable transcriptional similarity to neocortical projection neurons; however, they displayed regulatory gene expression patterns more closely related to neurons in the ventral pallium. Moreover, while γ-aminobutyric acid-releasing neurons in this pathway appeared homologous to those in mammals and other amniotes, the most abundant avian class is largely absent in the neocortex. Thes

SUBMITTER: Colquitt BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8136249 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature