The social brain: transcriptome assembly and characterization of the hippocampus from a social subterranean rodent, the colonial tuco-tuco (Ctenomys sociabilis).
Elucidating the genetic mechanisms that underlie complex adaptive phenotypes is a central problem in evolutionary biology. For behavioral biologists, the ability to link variation in gene expression to the occurrence of specific behavioral traits has long been a largely unobtainable goal. Social interactions with conspecifics represent a fundamental component of the behavior of most animal species. Although several studies of mammals have attempted to uncover the genetic bases for social relationships using a candidate gene approach, none have attempted more comprehensive, transcriptome-based analyses using high throughout sequencing. As a first step toward improved understanding of the genetic underpinnings of mammalian sociality, we generated a reference transcriptome for the colonial tuco-tuco (Ctenomys sociabilis), a social species of subterranean rodent that is endemic to southwestern Argentina. Specifically, we analyzed over 500 million Illumina sequencing reads derived from the hippocampi of 10 colonial tuco-tucos housed in captivity under a variety of social conditions. The resulting reference transcriptome provides a critical tool for future studies aimed at exploring relationships between social environment and gene expression in this non-model species of social mammal.
California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA. macmanes@gmail.com
Matthew D
MD
MacManes
Eileen A
EA
Lacey
D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D020451:Contig Mapping; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D012377:Rodentia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*