Age Effects Aggressive Behavior: RNA-Seq Analysis in Cattle with Implications for Studying Neoteny Under Domestication

Paulina G Eusebi,Cedric Boeckx,Susana Dunner,Natalia Sevane,Thomas O’Rourke,Manuel Pizarro

doi:10.1007/s10519-021-10097-1

Paulina G Eusebi, Cedric Boeckx + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-021-10097-1

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Abstract

The reactive type of aggression is regulated mostly by the brain’s prefrontal cortex; however, the molecular changes underlying aggressiveness in adults have not been fully characterized. We used an RNA-seq approach to investigate differential gene expression in the prefrontal cortex of bovines from the aggressive Lidia breed at different ages: young three-year old and adult four-year-old bulls. A total of 50 up and 193 down-regulated genes in the adult group were identified. Furthermore, a cross-species comparative analysis retrieved 29 genes in common with previous studies on aggressive behaviors, representing an above-chance overlap with the differentially expressed genes in adult bulls. We detected changes in the regulation of networks such as synaptogenesis, involved in maintenance and refinement of synapses, and the glutamate receptor pathway, which acts as excitatory driver in aggressive responses. The reduced reactive aggression typical of domestication has been proposed to form part of a retention of juvenile traits as adults (neoteny).

Highlights

Aggression in animals, including humans, serves important purposes in securing mates, territory and food and, is one of our most basic behaviors
Up and down-regulated Differentially Expressed Genes (DEG) lists were imported into the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) (QIAGEN, www.qiagen.com/ingenuity) software to assess Gene Ontologies (GOs) and canonical pathways enrichment scores
The structural and molecular changes occurring in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of diverse species at different age stages have been previously explored (Counotte et al 2010; Moczulska et al 2014;, Gonzalez-Lozano et al 2016)

Summary

Introduction

Aggression in animals, including humans, serves important purposes in securing mates, territory and food and, is one of our most basic behaviors. We understand aggression as an overt behavior directed at an object or a subject with an intention to cause harm or damage (Gannon et al 2009). This definition captures a heterogeneous and multifaceted construct, including the important distinction between two different subtypes of aggression, reactive and proactive (Smeets et al 2017). While both subtypes can cooccur, different neurobiological structures have been shown to underlie reactive and proactive subtypes (Blair 2013)

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