Ectodini cichlid brain comparison of mating type

Throughout the animal kingdom, we know many examples of mating system evolution that exemplify adaptive responses to changes in the environment, yet our understanding of the accompanying neural and molecular mechanisms that give rise to such behavioral changes remains understudied. In the present study we aimed to define the molecular basis of interspecific variation in social organization in Ectodini cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. We selected four closely related species that represent two independent evolutions of monogamy: the polygynous Xenotilapia ochrogenys, the monogamous Xenotilapia flavipinnis, the polygynous Microdontochromis tenuidentata and the monogamous Asprotilapia leptura. Using a single cichlid microarray platform, we conducted a total of 28 direct comparisons for neural gene expression level among males and 26 among females of four species that represent 2 independent evolutions of monogamy. Our results indicate the gene expression profiles display remarkable plasticity across different time scales because we find differences associated with sex, mating system, and lineage. We used a nested loop design with dye-swap to emphasize within-lineage comparison between species of different mating strategies. This data series represents males and females only and includes, for each sex, 9 arrays comparing inidividuals from 2 differeent species with different mating types (monogomous and polygamous)within the xenotilaipa lineage and 9 arrays comparing individuals from two different species of different mating types (polygamovus vs. monogomous) in the non-xenotilapia-lineage. There are 8 hybridizations that compare between the two lineages 4 of which are within-mating strategy and 4 of which are between mating strategy. Features have been filtered for sequence conservation across species under study.纵观动物界，已有诸多繁殖策略演化的实例，清晰展现了生物对环境变化的适应性响应，但我们对于驱动此类行为改变的伴随性神经与分子机制的认知仍有待深入探索。本研究旨在阐明坦噶尼喀湖（Lake Tanganyika）埃克托迪尼丽鱼族（Ectodini）鱼类社会结构的种间差异的分子基础。我们选取了4个近缘物种，它们代表了两次独立的单配制演化事件：一雄多雌制的Xenotilapia ochrogenys、单配制的Xenotilapia flavipinnis、一雄多雌制的Microdontochromis tenuidentata以及单配制的Asprotilapia leptura。我们采用单一慈鲷基因芯片（microarray）平台，针对上述4个代表两次单配制独立演化事件的物种，开展了共计28项雄性神经基因表达水平的直接比较，以及26项雌性的同类比较。研究结果显示，基因表达谱在不同时间尺度下展现出显著的可塑性，其差异与性别、繁殖策略及演化支系均存在关联。我们采用带有染料置换（dye-swap）的嵌套环路设计，以突出不同繁殖策略物种间的支系内比较。本数据集仅涵盖雄性与雌性个体：对于每一性别，包含9组芯片阵列比较，用于对比Xenotilapia支系内2个不同繁殖类型（单配制与一雄多雌制）的物种个体；另有9组芯片阵列比较，用于对比非Xenotilapia支系内2个不同繁殖类型（一雄多雌制与单配制）的物种个体。另有8组杂交实验用于对比两个支系间的差异，其中4组为相同繁殖策略物种间的比较，剩余4组为不同繁殖策略物种间的比较。已针对研究中涉及的物种间序列保守性对特征进行了筛选过滤。