Immune genomic response associated with preference behavior: an examination in a freshwater fish

Abstract

Abstract Immune activity in the brain underlies many social behaviors. This immune-behavior relationship can be viewed under a genomics scope by isolating transcriptomic correlates and molecular pathways present following various social encounters. Here we explore how immune genes correlate with different social exposures: mate-choice and social affiliation. Using an established model for sexual selection studies, we compared the immune gene responses in female brains following exposure to either a potential mate or a conspecific female. Females from the Poeciliidae family of fishes, the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna), were profiled for their social preference behavior and brain transcriptomes using RNA-seq. During the 30 minute behavioral assay, females were placed into one of two groups: (n=8) given the choice of a large male and small male (‘mate choice’) or a choice between a large and small female (n=8; ‘social affiliation’). The relationship between immune gene responses (categorized using Gene Ontology analysis) and behavior (preference, social affiliation, activity) will be explored using a linear model approach for differential expression (limma; Ritchie ME, et al, 2015) and WGCNA (weighted gene co-expression network analysis; Langfelder & Horvath, 2008). The RNA-seq transcriptomes from each female (n=16) will be analyzed by comparing differential expression between the two groups (‘mate-choice’ vs ‘social preference’).