Perceptual mechanisms of social affiliation in zebrafish

Nunes, Ana Bela; Carreira, Leonor Inácio Fragata; Anbalagan, Savani; Blechman, Janna; Levkowitz, Gil; Oliveira, Rui Filipe

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60154-8

Cited by 56 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Oxytocin receptor mutant zebrafish, Danio rerio , line ( oxtr −/− ), raised in a TL‐mixed background, were generated in the laboratory of Dr Gil Levkowitz (Weizmann Institute of Science) using a transcription activator‐like effector nuclease (TALEN) genome‐editing tool. Our previous data showed that mutant oxtr (−/−) fish exhibit an impaired oxytocinergic signalling (validation of the line in Nunes et al). Zebrafish genotyping was performed according with the procedure described by Blechamnn et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin receptor signalling modulates novelty recognition but not social preference in zebrafish

Ribeiro

Nunes

Gliksberg

et al. 2020

J Neuroendocrinology

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| INTRODUC TI ONNonapeptides are known to be important players in the regulation of social behaviour across taxa. 1 They evolved from a common ancestral molecule, the arginine vasotocin, after a gene duplication event in early-jawed fish. 2 One copy originated the vasopressin-like peptides, which retained the most primitive functions of the ancestral molecule, namely the regulation of osmotic balance. The other originated the oxytocin (OXT)-like peptides, which have greatly diverged across species, being recruited for diverse homeostatic processes, including parturition and lactation in mammals. Throughout evolution, these nonapeptides have also been involved in the regulation of social behaviours, with vasopressin being more involved in aggression and agonistic behaviours and OXT in affiliative behaviours and sociality. 3 AbstractSociality is a complex phenomenon that involves the individual´s motivation to approach their conspecifics, along with social cognitive functions that enable individuals to interact and survive. The nonapeptide oxytocin (OXT) is known to regulate sociality in many species. However, the role of OXT in specific aspects of sociality is still not well understood. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of the OXT receptor (OXTR) signalling in two different aspects of zebrafish social behaviour: social preference, by measuring their motivation to approach a shoal of conspecifics, and social recognition, by measuring their ability to discriminate between a novel and familiar fish, using a mutant zebrafish lacking a functional OXTR. Although oxtr mutant zebrafish displayed normal attraction to a shoal of conspecifics, they exhibited reduced social recognition. We further investigated whether this effect would be social-domain specific by replacing conspecific fish by objects. Although no differences were observed in object approach, oxtr mutant fish also exhibited impaired object recognition. Our findings suggest that OXTR signalling regulates a more general memory recognition of familiar vs novel entities, not only in social but also in a non-social domain, in zebrafish. K E Y W O R D Sautism spectrum disorders, oxytocin, social preference, social recognition, zebrafish S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O NAdditional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin receptor signalling modulates novelty recognition but not social preference in zebrafish

Ribeiro

Nunes

Gliksberg

et al. 2020

J Neuroendocrinology

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“…Indeed, a crucial difference between the present and earlier studies was that we presented videos rather than still images, allowing us to incorporate information about movement. Our own laboratory showed dogs are attracted by the motion of a laterally walking dog (Eatherington et al 2019) and studies in other species highlight how motion cues alone can be used for the recognition of conspecifics (Jitsumori et al 1999;Nunes et al 2020). Thus, the presence of motion information in our experiment may have played a role in allowing dogs to appropriately identify the conspecific's video.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

I know a dog when I see one: dogs (Canis familiaris) recognize dogs from videos

et al. 2021

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Several aspects of dogs’ visual and social cognition have been explored using bi-dimensional representations of other dogs. It remains unclear, however, if dogs do recognize as dogs the stimuli depicted in such representations, especially with regard to videos. To test this, 32 pet dogs took part in a cross-modal violation of expectancy experiment, during which dogs were shown videos of either a dog and that of an unfamiliar animal, paired with either the sound of a dog barking or of an unfamiliar vocalization. While stimuli were being presented, dogs paid higher attention to the exit region of the presentation area, when the visual stimulus represented a dog than when it represented an unfamiliar species. After exposure to the stimuli, dogs’ attention to different parts of the presentation area depended on the specific combination of visual and auditory stimuli. Of relevance, dogs paid less attention to the central part of the presentation area and more to the entrance area after being exposed to the barking and dog video pair, than when either was paired with an unfamiliar stimulus. These results indicate dogs were surprised by the latter pairings, not by the former, and were interested in where the barking and dog pair came from, implying recognition of the two stimuli as belonging to a conspecific. The study represents the first demonstration that dogs can recognize other conspecifics in videos.

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“…OXTR mutant zebrafish line (ZFIN ID: ZDB-ALT-190830–1) was generated and provided by Dr. Gil Levkowitz (Weizmann Institute of Science) using a TALEN-based genome editing system. The characterization of this line has been described in Nunes et al, 2020 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic variation in the social environment affects behavioral phenotypes of oxytocin receptor mutants in zebrafish

Ribeiro

Nunes

Teles

et al. 2020

eLife

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Oxytocin-like peptides have been implicated in the regulation of a wide range of social behaviors across taxa. On the other hand, the social environment, which is composed of conspecifics that may vary in their genotypes, also influences social behavior, creating the possibility for indirect genetic effects. Here, we used a zebrafish oxytocin receptor knockout line to investigate how the genotypic composition of the social environment (Gs) interacts with the oxytocin genotype of the focal individual (Gi) in the regulation of its social behavior. For this purpose, we have raised wild-type or knock-out zebrafish in either wild-type or knock-out shoals and tested different components of social behavior in adults. GixGs effects were detected in some behaviors, highlighting the need to control for GixGs effects when interpreting results of experiments using genetically modified animals, since the genotypic composition of the social environment can either rescue or promote phenotypes associated with specific genes.

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Perceptual mechanisms of social affiliation in zebrafish

Cited by 56 publications

References 59 publications

Oxytocin receptor signalling modulates novelty recognition but not social preference in zebrafish

Oxytocin receptor signalling modulates novelty recognition but not social preference in zebrafish

I know a dog when I see one: dogs (Canis familiaris) recognize dogs from videos

Genetic variation in the social environment affects behavioral phenotypes of oxytocin receptor mutants in zebrafish

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