The genetic basis of spatial cognitive variation in a food-caching bird

Branch, Carrie L.; Semenov, Georgy А.; Wagner, Dominique; Sonnenberg, Benjamin R.; Pitera, Angela M.; Bridge, Eli S.; Taylor, Scott A.; Pravosudov, Vladimir V.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.036

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…The long-term repeatability estimates we report here may go some way to validating these conclusions, and therefore have important implications for our understanding of how selection may act on cognitive traits (although it is necessary to determine the long-term repeatability of cognitive performance in all study species where conclusions about cognitive performance and selection are made). Crucially, in order to fully understand how selection acts on cognitive traits it is also necessary to understand the genetic basis of individual variation in cognition [ 50 , 51 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term repeatability of cognitive performance

et al. 2022

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Measures of cognitive performance, derived from psychometric tasks, have yielded important insights into the factors governing cognitive variation. However, concerns remain over the robustness of these measures, which may be susceptible to non-cognitive factors such as motivation and persistence. Efforts to quantify short-term repeatability of cognitive performance have gone some way to address this, but crucially the long-term repeatability of cognitive performance has been largely overlooked. Quantifying the long-term repeatability of cognitive performance provides the opportunity to determine the stability of cognitive phenotypes and the potential for selection to act on them. To this end, we quantified long-term repeatability of cognitive performance in wild Australian magpies over a three-year period. Cognitive performance was repeatable in two out of four cognitive tasks—associative learning and reversal-learning performance was repeatable, but spatial memory and inhibitory control performance, although trending toward significance, was not. Measures of general cognitive performance, obtained from principal components analyses carried out on each cognitive test battery, were highly repeatable. Together, these findings provide evidence that at least some cognitive phenotypes are stable, which in turn has important implications for our understanding of cognitive evolution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term repeatability of cognitive performance

et al. 2022

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“…Mutations in this gene are associated with a range of conditions, such as neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), progressive movement disorders, spasticity, neuropathy, cognitive dysfunction, and optic nerve atrophy ( Hartig et al 2011 ; Landoure et al 2013 ; Venco et al 2015 ; Dusek et al 2020 ; Espinos et al 2020 ). It was also recently identified as a top-ranked gene associated with performance in a spatial cognitive task in Mountain Chickadees ( Branch et al 2022 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive genome introgression between domestic ferret and European polecat during population recovery in Great Britain

Etherington

Ciezarek

Shaw

et al. 2022

Journal of Heredity

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The European polecat (Mustela putorius) is a mammalian predator which occurs across much of Europe east to the Ural Mountains. In Great Britain, following years of persecution the range of the European polecat contracted and by the early 1900’s was restricted to unmanaged forests of central Wales. The European polecat has recently undergone a population increase due to legal protection and its range now overlaps that of feral domestic ferrets (Mustela putorius furo). During this range expansion, European polecats hybridised with feral domestic ferrets producing viable offspring. Here we carry out population-level whole genome sequencing on 8 domestic ferrets, 19 British European polecats, and 15 European polecats from the European mainland. We used a range of population genomics methods to examine the data, including phylogenetics, phylogenetic graphs, model-based clustering, phylogenetic invariants, ABBA-BABA tests, topology weighting, and Fst. We found high degrees of genome introgression in British polecats outside their previous stronghold, even in those individuals phenotyped as ‘pure’ polecats. These polecats ranged from presumed F1 hybrids (gamma = 0.53) to individuals that were much less introgressed (gamma=0.2). We quantify this introgression and find introgressed genes containing Fst outliers associated with cognitive function and sight.

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“…Of the 18 genes we identified in these gene ontology categories, eight genes ( CDC42SE2 , RASA3 , ITGB1 , SLIT2 , RASGEF1A , GRIK2 , GRM3 and NRXN1 ) are associated with cognitive function, three with high‐altitude adaptation ( GRM5 , NRXN1 and HCN1 ) and two with feather colour and morphology ( KITLG and GRM8 ; Table S2). The cognitive‐associated genes SLIT2 and GRM3 have been identified as being important to the foraging and food‐caching habits of a montane bird, the Mountain Chickadee ( Poecile gambeli ; Branch et al, 2022). White‐tailed Ptarmigan ( Lagopus leucura ) is another alpine specialist with low genetic differentiation and range‐wide adaptive divergence potentially associated with diet (Fedy et al, 2008; Zimmerman et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current ENM projection (1991-2020) is shown with shaded black lines. The central and northwestern portions of the range have the largest concentration of regions shifting to novel climate, and therefore uncertain forecasting predictionsand GRM3 have been identified as being important to the foraging and food-caching habits of a montane bird, the Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli;Branch et al, 2022). White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) is another alpine specialist with low genetic differentiation and range-wide adaptive divergence potentially associated with diet(Fedy et al, 2008;Zimmerman et al, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%