Video - Zebra Finch pair bathing
Nature | The zebra finch is an important model organism in several fields1, with unique relevance to human neuroscience. Like other songbirds, the zebra finch communicates through learned vocalizations, an ability otherwise documented only in humans and a few other animals and lacking in the chicken—the only bird with a sequenced genome until now. Here we present a structural, functional and comparative analysis of the genome sequence of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), which is a songbird belonging to the large avian order Passeriformes. We find that the overall structures of the genomes are similar in zebra finch and chicken, but they differ in many intrachromosomal rearrangements, lineage-specific gene family expansions, the number of long-terminal-repeat-based retrotransposons, and mechanisms of sex chromosome dosage compensation. We show that song behaviour engages gene regulatory networks in the zebra finch brain, altering the expression of long non-coding RNAs, microRNAs, transcription factors and their targets. We also show evidence for rapid molecular evolution in the songbird lineage of genes that are regulated during song experience. These results indicate an active involvement of the genome in neural processes underlying vocal communication and identify potential genetic substrates for the evolution and regulation of this behaviour.
As in all songbirds, singing in the zebra finch is under the control of a discrete neural circuit that includes several dedicated centres in the forebrain termed the ‘song control nuclei’. Neurophysiological studies in these nuclei during singing have yielded some of the most illuminating examples of how vocalizations are encoded in the motor system of a vertebrate brain. In the zebra finch, these nuclei develop more fully in the male than in the female (who does not sing), and they change markedly in size and organization during the juvenile period when the male learns to sing. Analysis of the underlying cellular mechanisms of plasticity led to the unexpected discovery of neurogenesis in adult songbirds and life-long replacement of neurons. Sex steroid hormones also contribute to songbird neural plasticity, in part by influencing the survival of new neurons. Some of these effects are probably caused by oestrogen and/or testosterone synthesized within the brain itself rather than just in the gonads.
Song perception and memory also involve auditory centres that are present in both sexes, and the mere experience of hearing a song activates gene expression in these auditory centres. The gene response itself changes as a song becomes familiar over the course of a day or as the context of the experience changes. The act of singing induces gene expression in the male song control nuclei, and these patterns of gene activation also vary with the context of the experience. The function of this changing genomic activity is not yet understood, but it may support or suppress learning and help integrate information over periods of hours to days.
As in all songbirds, singing in the zebra finch is under the control of a discrete neural circuit that includes several dedicated centres in the forebrain termed the ‘song control nuclei’. Neurophysiological studies in these nuclei during singing have yielded some of the most illuminating examples of how vocalizations are encoded in the motor system of a vertebrate brain. In the zebra finch, these nuclei develop more fully in the male than in the female (who does not sing), and they change markedly in size and organization during the juvenile period when the male learns to sing. Analysis of the underlying cellular mechanisms of plasticity led to the unexpected discovery of neurogenesis in adult songbirds and life-long replacement of neurons. Sex steroid hormones also contribute to songbird neural plasticity, in part by influencing the survival of new neurons. Some of these effects are probably caused by oestrogen and/or testosterone synthesized within the brain itself rather than just in the gonads.
Song perception and memory also involve auditory centres that are present in both sexes, and the mere experience of hearing a song activates gene expression in these auditory centres. The gene response itself changes as a song becomes familiar over the course of a day or as the context of the experience changes. The act of singing induces gene expression in the male song control nuclei, and these patterns of gene activation also vary with the context of the experience. The function of this changing genomic activity is not yet understood, but it may support or suppress learning and help integrate information over periods of hours to days.
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