Citation

Sanogo YO, Bell AM. Mol. Ecol. 2016; 25(17): 4368-4376.

Affiliation

Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/mec.13766

PMID

27452346

Abstract

In nature, animals often face conflicting demands. For example, breeding males must attract a mate but at the same time be ready to defend against rivals. The molecular mechanisms by which the brain resolves behavioral tradeoffs are largely unknown. In this study, we compared the brain transcriptional responses of territorial male threespined sticklebacks to a mating opportunity with a female and to a territorial challenge by a rival male. We focused on the diencephalon and the cerebellum, two regions of the brain implicated in courtship and aggression. There was a set of genes that were differentially expressed in response to both a courtship opportunity and a territorial challenge. Closer inspection of the direction of regulation revealed that genes that were downregulated in response to a courtship opportunity were upregulated in response to a territorial challenge, and vice versa. Our study reveals some of the potential molecular mechanisms underlying behavioral tradeoffs between sex and aggression, along with a possible solution to the conflict via social context-dependent gene regulation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en