Transcriptomic comparison between brain regions of behaviorally distinct wild and domesticated zebrafish (Danio rerio) populations

Zebrafish populations recently collected from the wild differ from domesticated populations in anxiety-related behaviors. We measured anxiety-related behaviors in wild and domesticated zebrafish populations and performed a multi-brain region transcriptional comparison using microarrays to try to understand the genetic changes that accompany behavioral adaptation to domestication. We performed a microarray analysis comparing the midbrain and telencephalon brain regions of male and female adult zebrafish from four populations varying in domestication history (Wild: Nadia (N) and Pargana (P), and Domesticated: Scientific Hatchery (S) and Transgenic Mosaic 1 (T)). We collected 16 samples per brain region (4 samples per zebrafish population, with 1 telencephalon sample missing for the S population). We attempted to maintain equal sex ratios within each zebrafish population, but this was not always possible due to sex biases within some populations.