Data from: A brain-wide analysis maps structural evolution to distinct anatomical modules

Brain anatomy is highly variable and it is widely accepted that anatomical
variation impacts brain function and ultimately behavior. The structural
complexity of the brain, including differences in volume and shape,
presents an enormous barrier to define how variability underlies
differences in function. In this study, we sought to investigate the
evolution of brain anatomy in relation to brain region volume and shape
across the brain of a single species with variable genetic and anatomical
morphs. We generated a high-resolution brain atlas for the blind Mexican
cavefish and coupled the atlas with automated computational tools to
directly assess variability in brain region shape and volume across all
populations. We measured the volume and shape of every neuroanatomical
region of the brain and assessed correlations between anatomical regions
in surface fish, cavefish, and surface to cave F2 hybrids, whose
phenotypes span the range of surface to cave. We find that dorsal regions
of the brain are contracted in cavefish, while ventral regions have
expanded. This trend is true for both volume and shape, suggesting that
these two parameters share developmental mechanisms necessary for
remodeling the entire brain. Given the high conservation of brain anatomy
and function among vertebrate species, we expect these data to reveal
generalized principles of brain evolution and show that Astyanax provides
a system for functionally determining basic principles of brain evolution
by utilizing the independent genetic diversity of different morphs, to
test how genes influence early patterning events to drive brain-wide
anatomical evolution.