Meeting Abstract

S8.11  Tuesday, Jan. 6  Microarrays for Evolutionary Models of Social Behavior: Astatotilapia burtoni and Beyond. RENN, Suzy C P; Reed College, Portland OR renns@reed.edu

In the postgenomic era, there is extensive interest in the application of genomic technology to the study of less traditional model organisms. Even without full genome sequence, this is possible through the use of cDNA microarrays. While thirty years of research has contributed to our understanding of the molecular, hormonal, and physiological mechanisms of the socially regulated switch between dominant and subordinate phenotypes among males of the African cichlid species Astatotilapia burtoni, the females phenotypes have been largely ignored by all but a few studies. We have taken advantage of an artificial manipulation (single sex housing) in order to induce aggression in females. Through comparison of the gene expression profile of female and male aggressive phenotypes we identify modularity in gene expression. While both aggressive phenotypes share a common gene expression module related to aggression, we find that the females are masculinized to some extent, but also show a uniquely female pattern of gene expression associated with aggression. Due to genome sequence similarity between species, we can use this one cDNA array to explore social regulation of gene expression in other cichlid species for which ther is a wealth of behavioral and ecological research. I will use the example of differential regulation between the sexes in order to demonstrate meta-analysis of gene expression data. These studies lay the groundwork for a systems level analysis to address the modularity of gene expression and the evolution of behavior.