Gene regulatory co-option drives birdsong neural circuit specialization
in chicken projection neurons was sufficient to drive expression programs characteristic of song neurons. These results support a model in which song-dedicated neurons emerged from ancestral neural types in part through the co-option of GRNs active in other cellular contexts, providing a genetic mechanism underlying the evolution of birdsong.
Authors
- Bradley M. Colquitt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5819-7924)
- Michael S. Brainard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9425-9907)
- Eva G. Katcher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8309-5539)
- Keerthi Varadharaj (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0500-6944)
- Cayla R. M. Lagousis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8015-0482)
- Arturo Pedro Marquez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9893-6514)
- Frank Rand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0034-876X)
Institutions
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-04-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.24.720702
- Primary Topic
- Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00