biostudies-literatureTobari YMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology JapanHoward Hughes Medical InstituteSpanish Science MinistryRockefeller UniversityMoritani Scholarship Foundatione12780https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9744569biostudies-literatureUnknown21(2)The Bengalese finch was domesticated more than 250 years ago from the wild white-rumped munia (WRM). Similar to other domesticated species, Bengalese finches show a reduced fear response and have lower corticosterone levels, compared to WRMs. Bengalese finches and munias also have different song types. Since oxytocin (OT) has been found to be involved in stress coping and auditory processing, we tested whether the OT sequence and brain expression pattern and content differ in wild munias and domesticated Bengalese finches. We sequenced the OT from 10 wild munias and 11 Bengalese finches and identified intra-strain variability in both the untranslated and protein-coding regions of the sequence, with all the latter giving rise to synonymous mutations. Several of these changes fall in specifiGenes, brain, and behaviorOxytocin variation and brain region-specific gene expression in a domesticated avian species.PMC9744569PID2019-107042GB-I00JP19K06751JP16K18585Jarvis EDYao CTTang PCFujioka STheofanopoulou CKonno NHakataya STsai CRMori CSuzuki KMarutani MFurutani ASato YChen CFTobari YBoeckx COkanoya KYang EYfalseOxytocin variation and brain region-specific gene expression in a domesticated avian species.The Bengalese finch was domesticated more than 250 years ago from the wild white-rumped munia (WRM). Similar to other domesticated species, Bengalese finches show a reduced fear response and have lower corticosterone levels, compared to WRMs. Bengalese finches and munias also have different song types. Since oxytocin (OT) has been found to be involved in stress coping and auditory processing, we tested whether the OT sequence and brain expression pattern and content differ in wild munias and domesticated Bengalese finches. We sequenced the OT from 10 wild munias and 11 Bengalese finches and identified intra-strain variability in both the untranslated and protein-coding regions of the sequence, with all the latter giving rise to synonymous mutations. Several of these changes fall in specifi2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Feb2026-05-27T21:01:51.528Z2025-04-05T19:42:12.167ZS-EPMC97445693485454710.1111/gbb.12780