Project description:Reported here are the transcriptomic changes resulting from extinction learning, in the brain of an anuran amphibian. RNA sequencing was utilized to investigate gene expression patterns resulting from conditioned learning in the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. As a basal tetrapod lineage, B. orientalis represents a robust candidate for investigating the evolution of molecular mechanisms underlying learning in vertebrates. The gene expression patterns associated with extinction learning in this species shared similarities with to those found in mammals submitted to extinction, but interesting divergent profiles highlighted potential differences in the mechanisms of learning and memory among tetrapods.
Project description:Reported here are the transcriptomic changes resulting from learning, in the brain of an anuran amphibian. RNA sequencing was utilized to investigate temporal gene expression patterns resulting from conditioned learning in the fire-bellied toad, Bombina orientalis. As a basal tetrapod lineage, B. orientalis represents a robust candidate for investigating the evolution of molecular mechanisms underlying learning in vertebrates. Differential expression following learning reveled activity in molecular pathways related to immediate early gene expression, cytoskeletal modification, axon guidance activity, and apoptotic processes. Learning in the fire-bellied toad is characterized by early IEG activity coinciding with transcriptional activity and structural modification, followed by axon guidance and adhesion activity, and late neural pruning.
