Meeting Abstract
Identification of genes and molecules associated with vocalization have been primarily associated with vocal learning leaving a dearth of knowledge regarding the genetics of unlearned vocalizations. Hyla cinerea (green treefrogs) offer a unique opportunity to identify differences in communication strategies in an innately vocalizing species. Only male green treefrogs produce a vocalization, which is unlearned, suggesting the genes associated with vocalization are expressed in a sex dependent manner. Unfortunately, there are few genetic sequences available that are specific to H. cinerea. To remedy this, we produced a de novo transcriptome of H. cinerea brain tissue using stranded RNA-seq and assembled using Trinity. Following assembly, we identified differentially expressed transcripts based on sex, region (forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain), and for each region between sex using the R package DESeq2. We identified 267 transcripts that are differentially expressed based on sex. When brain region was considered independent of sex we identified 2194 and 588 differentially expressed transcripts between the forebrain and the hindbrain and midbrain, respectively. Additionally, we identified 422 differentially expressed transcripts between the midbrain and the hindbrain. When comparing sex by region we identified 259, 160, and 248 differentially expressed transcripts between forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain, respectively. Transcripts were considered differentially expressed when the FDR<0.05. These results provide a toolkit with which to investigate genetic differences associated with communication behavior and potentially identify a novel genetic pathway associated specifically with the production of unlearned vocalizations.
