TY - JOUR
T1 - Cellular transcriptomics reveals evolutionary identities of songbird vocal circuits
AU - Colquitt, Bradley M.
AU - Merullo, Devin P.
AU - Konopka, Genevieve
AU - Roberts, Todd F.
AU - Brainard, Michael S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works
PY - 2021/2/12
Y1 - 2021/2/12
N2 - Birds display advanced behaviors, including vocal learning and problem-solving, yet lack a layered neocortex, a structure associated with complex behavior in mammals. To determine whether these behavioral similarities result from shared or distinct neural circuits, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the neuronal repertoire of the songbird song motor pathway. Glutamatergic vocal neurons had considerable transcriptional similarity to neocortical projection neurons; however, they displayed regulatory gene expression patterns more closely related to neurons in the ventral pallium. Moreover, while g-aminobutyric acid-releasing neurons in this pathway appeared homologous to those in mammals and other amniotes, the most abundant avian class is largely absent in the neocortex. These data suggest that songbird vocal circuits and the mammalian neocortex have distinct developmental origins yet contain transcriptionally similar neurons.
AB - Birds display advanced behaviors, including vocal learning and problem-solving, yet lack a layered neocortex, a structure associated with complex behavior in mammals. To determine whether these behavioral similarities result from shared or distinct neural circuits, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to characterize the neuronal repertoire of the songbird song motor pathway. Glutamatergic vocal neurons had considerable transcriptional similarity to neocortical projection neurons; however, they displayed regulatory gene expression patterns more closely related to neurons in the ventral pallium. Moreover, while g-aminobutyric acid-releasing neurons in this pathway appeared homologous to those in mammals and other amniotes, the most abundant avian class is largely absent in the neocortex. These data suggest that songbird vocal circuits and the mammalian neocortex have distinct developmental origins yet contain transcriptionally similar neurons.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100956855&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85100956855&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/science.abd9704
DO - 10.1126/science.abd9704
M3 - Article
C2 - 33574185
AN - SCOPUS:85100956855
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 371
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6530
M1 - eabd9704
ER -