Gene expression comparisons between captive and wild shrew brains reveal captivity effects.

Area of Science:

• Comparative genomics
• Animal behavior
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Wild animals in captivity face altered conditions impacting physiology and behavior.
• Gene expression shifts are expected upstream of these phenotypic changes.
• No prior studies compared gene expression in captive versus free-ranging mammals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare brain gene expression profiles between captive and free-ranging wild shrews.
• To identify specific brain regions and pathways affected by captivity.
• To assess the robustness of findings with limited sample sizes.

Main Methods:

• Gene expression profiling of three shrew brain regions (cortex, olfactory bulb, hippocampus).
• Comparison between wild shrews and those housed in captivity for two months.
• Sample dropout analysis to ensure robustness of results.

Main Results:

• Hundreds of differentially expressed genes were identified across all three brain regions.
• 104 genes showed overlapping differential expression across all regions.
• Enriched pathways included neurodegenerative disease, oxidative phosphorylation, and ribosomal proteins.

Conclusions:

• Captivity induces significant transcriptomic changes in shrew brains, affecting key cellular and neurological pathways.
• These changes in captive mammals resemble human pathologies like major depressive disorder and neurodegeneration.
• Captivity can confound the study of natural processes in wild animals and influence brain function.