Hi Everyone,

We were asked to circulate information for a couple of upcoming talks in the Biology Department that might be of interest to some of you. Please see below for more information.

Best Regards, The CRAM Team ----

Dr. David Mets (University of California, San Francisco) will be giving two seminars on the neural and genetic basis of vocal communication and learning for the Biology department. Dr. Mets is a skilled research who has published impactful papers in Cell, Science, PNAS, and eLife, and I hope you can join us for these presentations.

January 17, 2020, 12:30 pm, Stewart N7/2 Title: Genetic and experiential influences on vocal learning in songbirds Abstract: Learning reflects the influence of experience on genetically determined circuitry, but little is known about how experience and genetics interact to determine learned phenotypes. Here, we use vocal learning in songbirds to study genetic influences on learned behavior. We first show that the tempo of learned song is strongly influenced by genetics. However, increasing richness of the learning experience from weak (tutoring by computer) to strong (tutoring by a live bird) reduces this genetic influence in favour of experiential influence. Further, we demonstrate that the overall quality of learning can be impacted by similar gene/experience interactions. Our results demonstrate that genetic influences on learned behavior can be profoundly dependent on individual experience such that increasing the richness of instruction can overcome even strong genetic bias and tailoring instructive experience to individual genetic bias can improve learning.

January 20, 2020, 4 pm, Stewart N7/2 Title: Molecular and genetic influences on birdsong, a complex learned behavior ?Abstract: The historical success of the human species has relied on humans ability to learn complex behaviors such as speech, but the mechanisms that underlie this ability remain poorly understood. To gain insight into similarly complex behaviors we use an unbiased genetic linkage analysis to identify genes and genomic regions that drive individual-to-individual variation in birdsong, a complex behavior learned in a prcess similar to human speech learning. We focus on song tempo, which we have shown to be influenced by genetic variation; when combined with a specific learning experience, genetic bias for tempo can drive variation in learning outcomes for many song features. In our large outbred population of Bengalese finches, we identify three regions of the genome which are significantly liked to variation in song tempo. One of these regions contains a single gene, SLC29a11, encoding a transporter of soluble Zinc homologous to Zrt and Irt like transporter 11 (ZIP11) and, a gene not previously implicated in behavior or learning. We find SLC39a11 transcript and ZIP11 protein are present in many regions of the finch brain including the excitatory neurons in the brain region HVC, a neuron class and a brain region known to be involved in regulation of song tempo. Reduction of SLC39a11 expression levels resulted in a decrease in song tempo while a reduction of soluble zinc levels increased song tempo. HVC excitatory neurons have increase firing rates when soluble Zinc is reduces, consistent with an increase in song tempo. Using unbiased genetic linkage analysis we have identified a novel mechanism driving individual variation in a complex learned behavior.

Please contact Jon Sakata (jon.sakata@mcgill.ca) if you would like to meet with David on Friday or Monday.