The goal of this project is to identify genetic mechanisms in the brain that underlie different sexual behaviors. Through the combined use of the genetic model zebrafish and the evolutionarily fascinating African cichlid fishes, this project will address the genetic basis of behavior in the context of evolution by determining to what extent the genetic mechanisms of different sexual behaviors in different species have arisen through conserved or convergent evolution. I will identify sex-specific genes in the adult and larval brain using zebrafish to take advantage of the functional annotations of the genome and apply the full force of bioinformatics techniques. This information will allow me to expand the breadth of experimentation and analysis for the study of sex-role behavior and dominance in the cichlids. In addition to evolutionary implications, these studies will inform further hypotheses to be tested through functional analysis.
