Summary/Abstract
A broad goal for biologists is to understand how genetic variation influences phenotype, including
development, physiology, and disease. For complex behaviors, it remains difficult to trace a path from
the genome to particular cell populations to brain function. In the proposed research, we will identify how
natural variation in vertebrate social behavior is encoded within the genome and executed in the brain
via context dependent gene expression in specific cell types. To accomplish this, we will utilize the
assemblage of cichlids from Lake Malawi, East Africa to take advantage of recent evolutionary radiation
that generated large differences in social behavior with minimal genetic divergence. We will use new
automated methods to quantify differences in male bower building behavior. We will map forebrain cell
types recruited during bower building and identify cis-regulatory circuits in these brain regions, using
RNA-seq and ATAC-seq from single cells. Finally, we will use QTL mapping and the construction of
near-isogenic lines (NILs) to identify the genetic basis of bower behavior and link genome regions to
specific behavioral and cellular subroutines. This work will identify cell populations, gene expression
programs and neuronal circuits regulating social behaviors in outbred vertebrates and provide
comparative insights into human behavioral diversity including common neurological diseases.