1. Loss of schooling behavior in cavefish through sight-dependent and sight-independent mechanisms.
- Author
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Kowalko JE, Rohner N, Rompani SB, Peterson BK, Linden TA, Yoshizawa M, Kay EH, Weber J, Hoekstra HE, Jeffery WR, Borowsky R, and Tabin CJ
- Subjects
- Adaptation, Physiological genetics, Animals, Behavior, Animal drug effects, Biological Evolution, Brain metabolism, Caves, Characidae genetics, Dopamine metabolism, Fluoxetine pharmacology, Lens, Crystalline physiology, Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors pharmacology, Neurotransmitter Agents antagonists & inhibitors, Quantitative Trait Loci genetics, Selection, Genetic, Selegiline pharmacology, Serotonin metabolism, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors pharmacology, Adaptation, Physiological physiology, Behavior, Animal physiology, Characidae physiology, Lateral Line System physiology, Vision, Ocular physiology
- Abstract
Background: Surface populations of Astyanax mexicanus, living in rivers like their common ancestors, school, while several, independently derived cave populations of the same species have lost schooling behavior., Results: We quantify schooling behavior in individual A. mexicanus and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for this trait. We find that the evolutionary modulation of schooling has both vision-dependent and -independent components. We also quantify differences in the lateral line and vision between cavefish and surface fish and relate these differences to the evolutionary loss of schooling behavior. We provide evidence that a monoamine neurotransmitter may have played a role in the evolution of schooling behavior., Conclusions: We find that vision is essential for schooling tendency in A. mexicanus, while the lateral line has a small effect on this behavior. Schooling behavior in A. mexicanus has evolved both through changes in sensory systems and through changes in genetic loci that likely act downstream of sensory inputs., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2013
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