Advancing behavioural genomics by considering timescale

Clare C. Rittschof, Kimberly A. Hughes

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

Animal behavioural traits often covary with gene expression, pointing towards a genomic constraint on organismal responses to environmental cues. This pattern highlights a gap in our understanding of the time course of environmentally responsive gene expression, and moreover, how these dynamics are regulated. Advances in behavioural genomics explore how gene expression dynamics are correlated with behavioural traits that range from stable to highly labile. We consider the idea that certain genomic regulatory mechanisms may predict the timescale of an environmental effect on behaviour. This temporally minded approach could inform both organismal and evolutionary questions ranging from the remediation of early life social trauma to understanding the evolution of trait plasticity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number489
JournalNature Communications
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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