Journal
MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY
Volume 56, Issue 5, Pages 3768-3779Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s12035-018-1339-7
Keywords
RNA-Seq; Sex differences; Social defeat; Social stress; Agonistic behavior; Transcriptional signature
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Funding
- NIH [RO1MH062044]
- Georgia State University Brains and Behavior Seed Grant
- Georgia State University Dissertation Grant
- Brains and Behavior Fellowships
- Honeycutt Fellowships
- Next Generation Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience
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The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is a critical nucleus mediating behavioral responses after exposure to acute social conflict. Male and female Syrian hamsters both readily establish a stable dominant-subordinate relationship among same-sex conspecifics, and the goal of the current study was to determine potential underlying genetic mechanisms in the BLA facilitating the establishment of social hierarchy. We sequenced the BLA transcriptomes of dominant, subordinate, and socially neutral males and females, and using de novo assembly techniques and gene network analyses, we compared these transcriptomes across social status within each sex. Our results revealed 499 transcripts that were differentially expressed in the BLA across both males and females and 138 distinct gene networks. Surprisingly, we found that there was virtually no overlap in the transcript changes or in gene network patterns in males and females of the same social status. These results suggest that, although males and females reliably engage in similar social behaviors to establish social dominance, the molecular mechanisms in the BLA by which these statuses are obtained and maintained are distinct.
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