Meeting Abstract
Bluegill sunfish are a classic system for studying male alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs). In this species, there are two life histories: parental and cuckolder, encompassing three reproductive tactics, parental, satellite, and sneaker. The parental life history is fixed, whereas within the cuckolder life history individuals appear to transition from the sneaker to the satellite tactic as they grow. We used RNAseq to identify differentially expressed transcripts in the brain of male ARTs and females during spawning. Sneaker males had higher levels of gene differentiation compared to the other two male tactics. Specifically, sneakers males exhibited high expression in ionotropic glutamate receptor genes, which may be important for working spatial memory while cuckolding parental males. We found expression differences in several candidate genes previously identified in other species with ARTs, suggesting some conserved pathways influencing these behaviors.
