Taeniopygia guttata
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA153101 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Similar Datasets
Project description:Similarities between speech and birdsong make songbirds advantageous for investigating the neurogenetics of learned vocal communication; a complex phenotype likely supported by ensembles of interacting genes in cortico-basal ganglia pathways of both species. To date, only FoxP2 has been identified as critical to both speech and birdsong. We performed weighted gene co-expression network analysis on microarray data from singing zebra finches to discover gene ensembles regulated during vocal behavior. We found ~2,000 singing- regulated genes comprising 3 co-expression groups unique to area X, the basal ganglia subregion dedicated to learned vocal-motor behavior. These contained known targets of human FOXP2 and potential avian targets. We validated novel biological pathways for vocalization. Our findings show that higher-order gene co-expression patterns, rather than expression levels, molecularly distinguish area X from the ventral striato-pallidum during singing. The previously unknown structure of singing-driven networks enables prioritization of molecular interactors that likely bear on human motor disorders, especially those affecting speech. Gene expression was measured in 2 basal ganglia sub-regions (area X & ventral striato-pallidum (VSP)) of 27 adult male zebra finches that sang different amounts of song over a 2hr period in the morning. 18 birds were allowed to sing freely, 9 birds were discouraged from singing by the presence of an investigator and those that sang fewer than 10 song motifs were considered “non-singers”.
2012-01-04 | E-GEOD-34819 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:As animals evolve more complex motor skills, they acquire more diverse supporting motor circuits in their nervous systems. Yet the molecular mechanisms driving motor circuit evolution remain poorly understood. Birdsong, a learned complex motor skill with parallels to human speech, is controlled by a dedicated neural circuit -- the song system -- that is distinguished from nearby sensorimotor regions by molecular, physiological, and connectivity specializations. By profiling gene expression and chromatin accessibility in the songbird brain, we have found that each projection neuron type in the song system has a molecularly similar sister neuron type in adjacent non-song regions that lacks specialized gene expression and is transcriptionally similar to neurons in the chicken brain. The GRNs controlled by transcription factors \textit{MAFB} and \textit{EMX2}, typically active in fast-spiking interneurons and astrocytes, are specifically active in song-dedicated extratelencephalic projection neurons. Furthermore, the heterologous expression of \textit{MAFB} or \textit{EMX2} in chicken projection neurons was sufficient to drive song neuron-like expression programs. These results support a model in which song-dedicated neurons emerged from ancestral neural types in part through the co-option of GRNs active in other cellular contexts, providing a genetic mechanism underlying the evolution of birdsong.
2026-04-24 | GSE328195 | GEO
Project description:Similarities between speech and birdsong make songbirds advantageous for investigating the neurogenetics of learned vocal communication; a complex phenotype likely supported by ensembles of interacting genes in cortico-basal ganglia pathways of both species. To date, only FoxP2 has been identified as critical to both speech and birdsong. We performed weighted gene co-expression network analysis on microarray data from singing zebra finches to discover gene ensembles regulated during vocal behavior. We found ~2,000 singing- regulated genes comprising 3 co-expression groups unique to area X, the basal ganglia subregion dedicated to learned vocal-motor behavior. These contained known targets of human FOXP2 and potential avian targets. We validated novel biological pathways for vocalization. Our findings show that higher-order gene co-expression patterns, rather than expression levels, molecularly distinguish area X from the ventral striato-pallidum during singing. The previously unknown structure of singing-driven networks enables prioritization of molecular interactors that likely bear on human motor disorders, especially those affecting speech.
2012-01-04 | GSE34819 | GEO
Project description:Developmental shifts in gene expression in the auditory forebrain during the sensitive period for song learning
| PRJNA153663 | ENA
Project description:Weighted gene coexpression analysis of RNA-seq data from 65d juvenile Area X and adjacent non-song ventral striatopallidum (VSP).
| PRJNA379914 | ENA
Project description:Birdsong is powerful model for the neural mechanisms underlying motor skill learning. The success of this model is in part due to the experimental advantages of the song system, the anatomically and functionally discrete neural circuit dedicated to song. Despite a detailed understanding of the physiological and systems levels properties of this circuit, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of what cell types are present in each region of the song system and how these cell types compare to those found in the brains of other vertebrates. Here, we characterize the cellular repertoire of the song motor pathway using single-cell RNA-sequencing.
2020-05-14 | GSE150486 | GEO
Project description:A defining feature of our species is the ability to manipulate our environment through the fine control of our hands and to communicate with others through the rapid and complex motor orchestration of human speech. The courtship song of songbirds shares a number of neural and behavioral similarities with human speech and other learned motor skills, providing a powerful model for understanding how enhanced motor skills develop at molecular and cellular levels. Birdsong is controlled by a specialized neural circuit whose properties enable high precision and speed. In particular, glutamatergic neurons in the birdsong motor region RA (Glut-RA) have higher spike rates and narrower action potentials than projection neurons in an adjacent motor region that does not control song, the dorsal intermediate arcopallium (Glut-AId). To identify candidate gene regulatory networks that establish the specialized properties of Glut-RA neurons, we performed single-nucleus profiling of gene expression and chromatin accessibility across song and non-song motor regions. We found that Glut-RA projection neurons and fast spiking interneurons (FSIs), a GABAergic type also characterized by high spike rates and narrow action potentials, share several transcriptional similarities. In particular, the transcription factor MAFB, which is essential for the development and fast-spiking physiology of FSIs in mice, is expressed in Glut-RA but no other projection neuron type. We found that MAFB transcription factor binding sites have enhanced chromatin accessibility specifically in glutamatergic neurons in RA relative to AId. Furthermore, gene regulatory network inference and in silico knockdown of MAFB expression reveal common MAFB targets in Glut-RA neurons and FSIs, and suggest that the transcription factor is necessary to specialize song Glut-RA neurons from non-song Glut-AId neurons. These data support a model in which birdsong projection neurons co-opt an interneuron gene regulatory program to enable the rapid physiological properties required for fast and precise birdsong performance.
2026-03-02 | GSE316538 | GEO
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC5563812 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC2600564 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A defining feature of our species is the ability to manipulate our environment through the fine control of our hands and to communicate with others through the rapid and complex motor orchestration of human speech. The courtship song of songbirds shares a number of neural and behavioral similarities with human speech and other learned motor skills, providing a powerful model for understanding how enhanced motor skills develop at molecular and cellular levels. Birdsong is controlled by a specialized neural circuit whose properties enable high precision and speed. In particular, glutamatergic neurons in the birdsong motor region RA (Glut-RA) have higher spike rates and narrower action potentials than projection neurons in an adjacent motor region that does not control song, the dorsal intermediate arcopallium (Glut-AId). To identify candidate gene regulatory networks that establish the specialized properties of Glut-RA neurons, we performed single-nucleus profiling of gene expression and chromatin accessibility across song and non-song motor regions. We found that Glut-RA projection neurons and fast spiking interneurons (FSIs), a GABAergic type also characterized by high spike rates and narrow action potentials, share several transcriptional similarities. In particular, the transcription factor MAFB, which is essential for the development and fast-spiking physiology of FSIs in mice, is expressed in Glut-RA but no other projection neuron type. We found that MAFB transcription factor binding sites have enhanced chromatin accessibility specifically in glutamatergic neurons in RA relative to AId. Furthermore, gene regulatory network inference and in silico knockdown of MAFB expression reveal common MAFB targets in Glut-RA neurons and FSIs, and suggest that the transcription factor is necessary to specialize song Glut-RA neurons from non-song Glut-AId neurons. These data support a model in which birdsong projection neurons co-opt an interneuron gene regulatory program to enable the rapid physiological properties required for fast and precise birdsong performance.
2026-03-02 | GSE316539 | GEO