ArticleMovement ecology2016
Gene expression in the brain of a migratory songbird during breeding and migration.
Article in Movement ecology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Parallel and convergent evolution in genes underlying seasonal migration.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Molecular changes and physiological responses involved in migratory bird fuel management and stopover decisions.Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2025Article
- Brain gene expression reveals pathways underlying nocturnal migratory restlessness.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Avian migration clocks in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024Review
- Gene regulation and speciation in a migratory divide between songbirds.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Genetic Control of Avian Migration: Insights from Studies in Latitudinal Passerine Migrants.Genes · 2023Review
- Inversions maintain differences between migratory phenotypes of a songbird.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Transcriptomics of Parental Care in the Hypothalamic-Septal Region of Female Zebra Finch Brain.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Comparative Genomics and Evolution of Avian Specialized Traits.Current genomics · 2021Review
- Tissue and Temperature-Specific RNA-Seq Analysis Reveals Genomic Versatility and Adaptive Potential in Wild Sea Turtle Hatchlings (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Transcriptional Signatures in Liver Reveal Metabolic Adaptations to Seasons in Migratory Blackheaded Buntings.Frontiers in physiology · 2018Article
- Article
- Two sides of a coin: ecological and chronobiological perspectives of timing in the wild.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Timing avian long-distance migration: from internal clock mechanisms to global flights.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Gene expression shifts in yellow-bellied marmots prior to natal dispersal.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe still have limited knowledge about the underlying genetic mechanisms that enable migrating species of birds to navigate the globe. Here we make an attempt to get insight into the genetic architecture controlling this complex innate behaviour. We contrast the gene expression profiles of two closely related songbird subspecies with divergent migratory phenotypes. In addition to comparing differences in migratory strategy we include a temporal component and contrast patterns between breeding adults and autumn migrating juvenile birds of both subspecies. The two willow warbler subspecies, Phylloscopus trochilus trochilus and P. t. acredula, are remarkably similar both in phenotype and genotype and have a narrow contact zone in central Scandinavia. Here we used a microarray gene chip representing 23,136 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata to identify mRNA level differences in willow warbler brain tissue in relation to subspecies and season.
resultsOut of the 22,109 EST probe sets that remained after filtering poorly binding probes, we found 11,898 (51.8 %) probe sets that could be reliably and uniquely matched to a total of 6,758 orthologous zebra finch genes. The two subspecies showed very similar levels of gene expression with less than 0.1 % of the probe sets being significantly differentially expressed. In contrast, 3,045 (13.8 %) probe sets were found to be differently regulated between samples collected from breeding adults and autumn migrating juvenile birds. The genes found to be differentially expressed between seasons appeared to be enriched for functional roles in neuronal firing and neuronal synapse formation.
conclusionsOur results show that only few genes are differentially expressed between the subspecies. This suggests that the different migration strategies of the subspecies might be governed by few genes, or that the expression patterns of those genes are time-structured or tissue-specific in ways, which our approach fails to uncover. Our findings will be useful in the planning of new experiments designed to unravel the genes involved in the migratory program of birds.
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