Natural variation in brain gene expression profiles of aggressive and nonaggressive individual sticklebacks. Gasterosteus aculeatus

We examine whether there are differences in gene expression between aggressive versus nonaggressive behavioral types of individuals within a natural population of male threespined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). We compared gene expression profiles of aggressive male sticklebacks to nonaggressive males in four regions of the brain (brainstem, cerebellum, diencephalon and telencephalon). We identified new candidate genes related to aggressiveness, including SLC38a, a solute carrier which has been linked to GABAergic neuron reuptake of glutamine. Overall design: 2 conditions: control: non-aggressive fish; and experimental: aggressive fish. Biological replicates 6. Four brain regions.