Large captivity effect based on gene expression comparisons between captive and wild shrew brains

Compared to their free-ranging counterparts, wild animals in captivity are subject to different conditions with lasting effects on their physiology and behavior. Alterations in gene expression in response to environmental changes occur upstream of physiological and behavioral phenotypes, but there are no experiments analyzing differential gene expression in captive vs. free-ranging mammals. We assessed gene expression profiles of three brain regions (cortex, olfactory bulb, and hippocampus) of wild juvenile shrews (Sorex araneus) in comparison to shrews kept in captivity for two months. We found hundreds of differentially expressed genes in all three brain regions, suggesting a large and uniform captivity effect. Many of the downregulated genes in captive shrews significantly enrich pathways associated with neurodegenerative disease (p<0.001), oxidative phosphorylation (p<0.001), and genes encoding ribosomal proteins (p<0.001). Transcriptomic changes associated with captivity i...

与自由放养的同类相比，圈养野生动物所处的环境条件迥异，且会对其生理机能与行为模式产生持久影响。环境变化引发的基因表达改变，是生理与行为表型出现变化的上游调控机制，但目前尚无针对圈养与野生哺乳动物间差异基因表达（differential gene expression）的相关实验研究。本研究以野生幼年普通鼩鼱（Sorex araneus）为对象，对比分析了其与经两个月圈养的普通鼩鼱的三个脑区——大脑皮层（cortex）、嗅球（olfactory bulb）及海马体（hippocampus）——的基因表达谱。本研究在三个脑区中均检出数百个差异表达基因（differentially expressed genes），提示圈养效应广泛且一致。圈养鼩鼱体内的大量下调基因（downregulated genes），显著富集于与神经退行性疾病（p<0.001）、氧化磷酸化（oxidative phosphorylation，p<0.001）及核糖体蛋白编码基因相关的通路中。与圈养相关的转录组变化……