The genetic basis of spatial cognitive variation in a food-caching bird
The genetic basis of spatial cognitive variation in a food-caching bird
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.036
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发表时间：
2022-01-10
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Pravosudov, Vladimir V.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Branch, Carrie L.;Semenov, Georgy A.;Pravosudov, Vladimir V.
空间认知被大多数生物用来导航他们的环境。一些物种特别依赖于专门的空间认知来生存，这表明认知的可遗传成分可能处于自然选择之下。这个想法在很大程度上还没有在人类之外得到验证，也许是因为一般来说，认知受到学习和经验的强烈影响。(1-4)我们调查了非迁徙性食物缓存鸟类用于恢复食物储存和在严酷的山地冬季生存的空间认知的个体差异的遗传基础。比较野生的，自由生活的鸟类的基因组，从最好的到最差的空间认知任务的表现，揭示了与神经元生长和发育以及海马功能相关的基因的显着关联。这些结果确定了与空间认知差异相关的候选基因，并提供了一个连接个体空间认知差异与自然选择的关键环节。
Spatial cognition is used by most organisms to navigate their environment. Some species rely particularly heavily on specialized spatial cognition to survive, suggesting that a heritable component of cognition may be under natural selection. This idea remains largely untested outside of humans, perhaps because cognition in general is known to be strongly affected by learning and experience.(1-4) We investigated the genetic basis of individual variation in spatial cognition used by non-migratory food-caching birds to recover food stores and survive harsh montane winters. Comparing the genomes of wild, free-living birds ranging from best to worst in their performance on a spatial cognitive task revealed significant associations with genes involved in neuron growth and development and hippocampal function. These results identify candidate genes associated with differences in spatial cognition and provide a critical link connecting individual variation in spatial cognition with natural selection.