Projects
🧠Project One: Mapping V1a2 Expression in the Brain
This project investigates how expression of the vasopressin receptor V1a2 varies across sex and social status in the brain of Astatotilapia burtoni, a highly social species of cichlid. V1a2 is known to play a role in social behaviors like aggression and reproduction, but how its expression reflects dominant or subordinate status remains unclear. Using immunohistochemistry and stereological analysis, we quantify the number and distribution of V1a2-expressing cells in key brain regions associated with the Social Decision-Making Network (SDMN), including the preoptic area (POA), dorsal telencephalon (Dl), and others. By comparing expression across dominant and subordinate males, we aim to uncover whether V1a2 expression helps encode and maintain social roles in the brain.
🧬 Project Two: Disrupting V1a2 to Test Its Role in Social Ascent
In this experiment, we use CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to knock out the V1a2 gene and evaluate its functional role in behavioral flexibility—specifically during social ascent, when a subordinate male rises in status following the removal of a dominant competitor. By observing and quantifying behaviors like aggression and courtship in both wild-type and V1a2 knockout males, we test whether disrupting this receptor alters the animal’s ability to respond to social opportunities. This allows us to directly probe how V1a2 contributes to the tradeoff between reproductive and aggressive behaviors, and whether its absence disrupts social decision-making.
🧪Project Three: Transcriptomic Insights from V1a2 Knockout Brains
CRISPR-based knockout of V1a2 doesn’t just alter behavior—it likely causes widespread changes in gene expression across the brain. In this project, we use 3’Tag-Seq, a transcriptomic profiling technique, to measure how gene expression patterns in the preoptic area (POA) are altered in V1a2 mutants. By comparing mutants and controls across different social states (dominant, subordinate, ascending), we explore whether the brain engages compensatory mechanisms—for instance, upregulating other nonapeptide receptors—to maintain functional behavior. This analysis will also reveal gene networks and pathways that are sensitive to V1a2 disruption, allowing us to build a systems-level view of how a single receptor can influence brain-wide expression and social behavior.