Meeting Abstract
To identify underlying mechanisms of social and mating preferences, transcriptomic expression in the brain can be isolated within minutes of the preference behaviors. These transcriptomic profiles help elucidate previously-unexplored genetic pathways expressed during these behaviors. Using an established model for mating preference and social preference behaviors, 16 females from the Poeciliidae species, the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), were profiled for their preference behavior and brain transcriptomes using RNA-seq. During the 30 minute behavioral assay, females were placed into one of two groups: (n=8) given the choice of a large male and small male (‘mate choice’) or a choice between a large and small female (n=8; ‘social preference’). Twelve of the 16 female fish spent the majority of the ‘association time’ near the large conspecific (n=6 towards the large male; n=6 towards large female). Of all 16 females, half exhibited ‘choosy’ preference behavior, which was arbitrarily defined as fish spending over 65% of the ‘association time’ with one conspecific. The remaining half exhibited ‘indecisive’ behavior, i.e., spending less than 65% of the time with either conspecific. The RNA-seq transcriptomes from each female (n=16) will be analyzed by comparing differential expression between the two groups (‘mate-choice’ vs ‘social preference’). Additionally, we can determine if transcriptomic signatures differ between ‘choosy’ and ‘indecisive’ individuals.
