Prenatal Visual Exposure to a Predator Influences Lateralization in Goldbelly Topminnows

Marco Dadda,Christian Agrillo,Veronica Vendramin

doi:10.3390/sym12081257

Abstract

The role of genetic and environmental factors in modulating the development of brain lateralization is far from being fully understood, and the presence of individual differences in several lateralized functions is still an open question. In goldbelly topminnows, the genetic basis of asymmetrical functions in the brain has been studied, and recently it has been found that light stimulation influences the expression of lateralization of newborns. Here, we investigated whether prenatal exposure to predators affects the development of lateralization in 10-day-old topminnows born from females exposed to a real or to a simulated predator during pregnancy. Offspring from females exposed to a real predator were lateralized in both visual and motor tests, whereas fish from females exposed to a simulated predator were not and did not differ from controls. Prenatal exposure to a real predator might promote the alignment of lateralization in the same direction in different individuals.

Highlights

Brain lateralization is a common feature among vertebrates and invertebrates [1,2] and is thought to confer some advantages—in particular, the possibility to run multiple tasks in parallel [3,4]
We investigated whether prenatal exposure to predators affects the development of lateralization in 10-day-old topminnows born from females exposed to a real or to a simulated predator during pregnancy
It has been shown that several environmental factors interact with genes during development modulating the expression of lateralization [11] such as stress and post-natal handling [12,13,14], habitat complexity [15], and prenatal exposure to androgens [16,17]

Summary

Introduction

Brain lateralization is a common feature among vertebrates and invertebrates [1,2] and is thought to confer some advantages—in particular, the possibility to run multiple tasks in parallel [3,4]. It has been shown that several environmental factors interact with genes during development modulating the expression of lateralization [11] such as stress and post-natal handling [12,13,14], habitat complexity [15], and prenatal exposure to androgens [16,17]. Among these factors, prenatal exposure to light has received particular attention, and its effects have been well documented in birds and fish [18,19,20]

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