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Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Whitney, O; Pfenning, AR; Howard, JT; Blatti, CA; Liu, F; Ward, JM; Wang, R; Audet, J-N; Kellis, M; Mukherjee, S; Sinha, S; Hartemink, AJ ...
Published in: Science
December 12, 2014

Songbirds represent an important model organism for elucidating molecular mechanisms that link genes with complex behaviors, in part because they have discrete vocal learning circuits that have parallels with those that mediate human speech. We found that ~10% of the genes in the avian genome were regulated by singing, and we found a striking regional diversity of both basal and singing-induced programs in the four key song nuclei of the zebra finch, a vocal learning songbird. The region-enriched patterns were a result of distinct combinations of region-enriched transcription factors (TFs), their binding motifs, and presinging acetylation of histone 3 at lysine 27 (H3K27ac) enhancer activity in the regulatory regions of the associated genes. RNA interference manipulations validated the role of the calcium-response transcription factor (CaRF) in regulating genes preferentially expressed in specific song nuclei in response to singing. Thus, differential combinatorial binding of a small group of activity-regulated TFs and predefined epigenetic enhancer activity influences the anatomical diversity of behaviorally regulated gene networks.

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Published In

Science

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

Publication Date

December 12, 2014

Volume

346

Issue

6215

Start / End Page

1256780

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vocalization, Animal
  • Transcriptome
  • Transcription Factors
  • Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
  • Male
  • Histones
  • Genome
  • General Science & Technology
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Gene Expression Regulation
 

Citation

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Whitney, O., Pfenning, A. R., Howard, J. T., Blatti, C. A., Liu, F., Ward, J. M., … Jarvis, E. D. (2014). Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome. Science, 346(6215), 1256780. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256780
Whitney, Osceola, Andreas R. Pfenning, Jason T. Howard, Charles A. Blatti, Fang Liu, James M. Ward, Rui Wang, et al. “Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome.Science 346, no. 6215 (December 12, 2014): 1256780. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256780.
Whitney O, Pfenning AR, Howard JT, Blatti CA, Liu F, Ward JM, et al. Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome. Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1256780.
Whitney, Osceola, et al. “Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome.Science, vol. 346, no. 6215, Dec. 2014, p. 1256780. Pubmed, doi:10.1126/science.1256780.
Whitney O, Pfenning AR, Howard JT, Blatti CA, Liu F, Ward JM, Wang R, Audet J-N, Kellis M, Mukherjee S, Sinha S, Hartemink AJ, West AE, Jarvis ED. Core and region-enriched networks of behaviorally regulated genes and the singing genome. Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1256780.
Journal cover image

Published In

Science

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

Publication Date

December 12, 2014

Volume

346

Issue

6215

Start / End Page

1256780

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Vocalization, Animal
  • Transcriptome
  • Transcription Factors
  • Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
  • Male
  • Histones
  • Genome
  • General Science & Technology
  • Gene Regulatory Networks
  • Gene Expression Regulation