For whom the bird sings: context-dependent gene expression.
Abstract
Male zebra finches display two song behaviors: directed and undirected singing. The
two differ little in the vocalizations produced but greatly in how song is delivered.
"Directed" song is usually accompanied by a courtship dance and is addressed almost
exclusively to females. "Undirected" song is not accompanied by the dance and is produced
when the male is in the presence of other males, alone, or outside a nest occupied
by its mate. Here, we show that the anterior forebrain vocal pathway contains medial
and lateral "cortical-basal ganglia" subdivisions that have differential ZENK gene
activation depending on whether the bird sings female-directed or undirected song.
Differences also occur in the vocal output nucleus, RA. Thus, although these two vocal
behaviors are very similar, their brain activation patterns are dramatically different.
Type
Journal articleSubject
AnimalsBrain
Brain Mapping
DNA-Binding Proteins
Female
Gene Expression Regulation
Hearing
Male
Neurons
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Social Environment
Songbirds
Synaptic Transmission
Telencephalon
Transcription Factors
Transcriptional Activation
Vocalization, Animal
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Erich David Jarvis
Adjunct Professor in the Deptartment of Neurobiology
Dr. Jarvis' laboratory studies the neurobiology of vocal communication. Emphasis is
placed on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned
vocalizations. They use an integrative approach that combines behavioral, anatomical,
electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques. The main animal model used
is songbirds, one of the few vertebrate groups that evolved the ability to learn vocalizations.
The generality of the discoveries is tested in other vocal lear

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