Genome of a songbird unveiled

Abstract
Songbirds have been used as a model for studying many biological systems,
including how neurons develop, how steroid hormones affect brain development, and
how experience modifies neuronal physiology.

Development and the brain

The zebra finch genome project revealed that nearly 10,000 genes are expressed in
the forebrain of juvenile birds and adult birds, and that approximately 91% of protein-
coding genes are developmentally regulated.

Sensory- and motor-regulated transcripts

Auditory experience was previously shown to strongly affect gene regulatory events
in the auditory forebrain, and regulatory microRNAs may have a central role in brain
homeostasis.
Researchers used a microarray platform to uncover gene regulatory interactions that
are induced during singing behavior. These interactions are strongly correlated with
later modifications in the expression patterns of groups of their predicted target
genes.
Overall, these findings highlight the role of microRNAs and non-coding RNAs in the
control of gene expression in the songbird brain.

Genes gained, genes lost

The zebra finch genome provides exciting insights into the evolution of avian and
mammalian species, including the lack of genes that encode milk, salivary and
vomeronasal receptor proteins, and the lack of the synapsin I gene.
Zebra finches have many genes in common with chickens and humans, including
growth hormone and caspase-3, and the PAK3 and PHF7 genes, which are involved
in dendritic plasticity and transcriptional regulation, respectively.
The zebra finch genome has a higher degree of intrachromosomal rearrangement
and more transcribed mobile elements than the chicken genome. However, the
population of coding genes and the syntenic organization are highly similar to that of
chicken and humans.

An exciting future for songbird biological studies

The songbird genome consortium has developed a number of publicly available
resources and tools, including normalized and subtracted cDNA libraries, bacterial
artificial chromosome libraries, a largely complete set of annotated expressed
sequence tags, and a microarray platform. These tools have enabled multiple
research groups to systematically study the songbird brain.
Over the next few years, efforts will be made to create a songbird gene expression
brain atlas, which will provide a unique opportunity for songbird biologists to test
causal relationships between the induction of gene expression programs, altered
cellular physiology and their behavioral correlates.