Abstract:
Songbirds (oscines of Order Passeriformes) are emerging as a major focus of research in neurobiology. This review considers five broad research topics that are proving amenable to molecular biological analysis in songbirds: (1) molecular anatomy of a functioning neural system (the song system); (2) regulation of learning and memory formation; (3) brain circuit development, including roles for sex steroids and ongoing neurogenesis; (4) integration of social and environmental signals; (5) species diversity and evolution. Results from ∼400 references are considered, illustrating the enormous breadth and vitality of bird song molecular neurobiology.
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Abbreviations
- AFP:
-
anterior forebrain pathway
- BAC:
-
bacterial artificial chromosome
- BDNF:
-
brain-derived neurotrophic factor
- BOS:
-
bird's own song
- CMM:
-
caudomedial mesopallium
- CREB:
-
cyclic AMP response element binding protein
- ERK:
-
extracellular signal-regulated kinase
- EST:
-
expressed sequence tag
- FOXP2:
-
forkhead box P2
- HVC:
-
(proper name for nidopallial song nucleus previously misnamed Hyperstriatum Ventrale pars caudalis and commonly referred to as High Vocal Center, see Reiner et al., 2004b)
- IEG:
-
immediate early gene
- IGF-II:
-
Insulin-related growth factor II
- LMAN:
-
lateral magnocelluar nucleus of the anterior nidopallium
- LTD:
-
long-term depression
- LTP:
-
long-term potentiation
- NCM:
-
caudomedial nidopallium
- NMDA:
-
N-methyl-D-aspartic acid
- RA:
-
robust nucleus of the arcopallium
- SNAg:
-
song system nuclear antigen
- ZRALDH:
-
zebra finch retinaldehyde dehydrogenase
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Acknowledgments
The author thanks the many colleagues who have inspired, instructed, and challenged him over the years—and especially the dozen or so graduate students who have shared his path of discovery. This work was supported by NIH grants RO1 NS045264 and RO1 MH52086.
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Clayton, D.F. (2007). Molecular Neurobiology of Bird Song. In: Lajtha, A., Blaustein, J.D. (eds) Handbook of Neurochemistry and Molecular Neurobiology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30405-2_9
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