Effects of Stress Coping Styles and Social Defeat on Zebrafish Behaviour and Brain Transcriptomics

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Ethology
• Genomics

Background:

• Personality traits, like boldness and shyness, are linked to stress coping styles and plasticity.
• Understanding these differences is crucial for behavioral and neural research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of boldness/shyness phenotypes on behavioral and neural responses to social defeat stress in zebrafish.
• To analyze gene expression changes in the brain associated with these distinct coping strategies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a social defeat stress model in wild zebrafish selectively bred for boldness and shyness.
• Assessed behavioral parameters including boldness, exploration, aggressiveness, and displacement behavior.
• Analyzed brain gene expression changes using RNA sequencing.

Main Results:

• The boldness/shyness phenotype significantly affected both behavior and brain gene expression.
• Shy zebrafish exhibited notable behavioral differences with minimal changes in gene expression.
• Bold zebrafish showed less pronounced behavioral changes but substantial alterations in brain gene expression.

Conclusions:

• The boldness phenotype plays a critical role in how zebrafish respond to social challenges.
• Distinct behavioral and transcriptomic responses to stress are associated with boldness and shyness.
• This study underscores the importance of personality in shaping stress resilience and neural plasticity.