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| Social Experience Alters Learning Abilities and Brain Protein Expressions in Mangrove Rivulus Fish |
| Cheng-Yu Li1,2, Dietmar K�ltz3, Audrey Ward2,4, Eric Haag1, Ryan Earley2. 1Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States; 2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States; 3Department of Animal Sciences, University of California, Davis, California, United States; 4Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States |
Fighting experience elicits physiological responses and alters aggressive behavior (winner-loser effects). While these effects are conserved from invertebrates to vertebrates, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Most studies have focused on how these experiences influence aggression, but evidence shows they also affect learning behavior. In mangrove rivulus fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus), single winning and losing experiences significantly improved spatial and risk-avoidance learning performance, respectively. Thus, fighting experiences might modulate diverse behaviors, including learning ability, through key brain regions such as dorsolateral pallium (Dl, putative hippocampus) and dorsomedial pallium (Dm, putative basolateral amygdala). We therefore quantified proteome expression in the forebrain (where Dm and Dl are located) of adults with divergent social experiences, finding winners and losers exhibit distinct proteome expressions. These results imply functional differences in winner and loser brains with implications for aggression and learning. Further genetic manipulation will establish causality between protein expressions and experience-induced behavioral changes. |