Cellular mechanisms of rapid hormonal modulation in vertebrate communication signals

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Animal communication signals are important for reproductive fitness because they influence mate selection and competition for resources and mating opportunities. Hormones control animal communication signals over timescales ranging from months to minutes. Sex hormones like testosterone or estrogen generally control slower changes over months to hours, while faster-acting protein hormones change communication signals on a moment-to-moment basis. Much is known about the ways that protein hormones affect communication behavior, but little is known about the cellular mechanisms through which these hormones quickly change communication signals. How do protein hormones change the function of cells in the nervous system and elsewhere in the body to rapidly shape communication signals? This project will identify the cellular mechanisms through which protein hormones regulate animal communication signals on a moment-to-moment basis. This project's experiments involve recording the electrical activity of cells that generate communication signals in electric fish, a system where protein hormones rapidly change the animal's communication signals during social interactions. By monitoring the cell's electrical activity in the presence of protein hormones, the experiments will determine how these hormones affect the molecules responsible for cellular electrical activity and the resulting communication signals. This work also will have broad impacts beyond its scientific contributions. It will result in the mentoring and training of graduate students, undergraduate students, and high-school students as research assistants in behavioral neurobiology. This project also will support the principal investigator's active educational outreach program which engages local science museums and K-12 science students.