Carlson Bruce A, Gallant Jason R
Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130-4899, USA.
J Neurogenet. 2013 Sep;27(3):106-29. doi: 10.3109/01677063.2013.799670. Epub 2013 Jun 26.
Mormyrid fishes communicate using pulses of electricity, conveying information about their identity, behavioral state, and location. They have long been used as neuroethological model systems because they are uniquely suited to identifying cellular mechanisms for behavior. They are also remarkably diverse, and they have recently emerged as a model system for studying how communication systems may influence the process of speciation. These two lines of inquiry have now converged, generating insights into the neural basis of evolutionary change in behavior, as well as the influence of sensory and motor systems on behavioral diversification and speciation. Here, we review the mechanisms of electric signal generation, reception, and analysis and relate these to our current understanding of the evolution and development of electromotor and electrosensory systems. We highlight the enormous potential of mormyrids for studying evolutionary developmental mechanisms of behavioral diversification, and make the case for developing genomic and transcriptomic resources. A complete mormyrid genome sequence would enable studies that extend our understanding of mormyrid behavior to the molecular level by linking morphological and physiological mechanisms to their genetic basis. Applied in a comparative framework, genomic resources would facilitate analysis of evolutionary processes underlying mormyrid diversification, reveal the genetic basis of species differences in behavior, and illuminate the origins of a novel vertebrate sensory and motor system. Genomic approaches to studying the evo-devo-neuroethology of mormyrid communication represent a deeply integrative approach to understanding the evolution, function, development, and mechanisms of behavior.
象鼻鱼通过电脉冲进行交流，传递有关它们的身份、行为状态和位置的信息。长期以来，它们一直被用作神经行为学模型系统，因为它们特别适合用于确定行为的细胞机制。它们的种类也非常多样，最近已成为研究通讯系统如何影响物种形成过程的模型系统。这两条研究路线现在已经交汇，为行为进化变化的神经基础以及感觉和运动系统对行为多样化和物种形成的影响提供了见解。在这里，我们综述了电信号产生、接收和分析的机制，并将这些机制与我们目前对电动和电感觉系统的进化和发育的理解联系起来。我们强调象鼻鱼在研究行为多样化的进化发育机制方面的巨大潜力，并提出开发基因组和转录组资源的理由。完整的象鼻鱼基因组序列将使我们能够通过将形态和生理机制与其遗传基础联系起来，将对象鼻鱼行为的理解扩展到分子水平。在比较框架中应用基因组资源将有助于分析象鼻鱼多样化背后的进化过程，揭示行为物种差异的遗传基础，并阐明一种新型脊椎动物感觉和运动系统的起源。研究象鼻鱼通讯的进化发育神经行为学的基因组方法代表了一种深入综合的方法，用于理解行为的进化、功能、发育和机制。
