Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain

Birdsong is a precisely timed animal behavior. The connectivity of song premotor neural networks has been proposed to underlie the temporal patterns of neuronal activity that control vocal muscle movements during singing. Although the connectivity of premotor nuclei via chemical synapses has been ch...

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Autores principales:	Pepe Alcami, Santhosh Totagera, Nina Sohnius-Wilhelmi, Stefan Leitner, Benedikt Grothe, Carolina Frankl-Vilches, Manfred Gahr
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	electrical synapse GJD2 connexin 36 birdsong song nuclei premotor networks Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/210bad8ce6c0489d9859d9dd95712fc0
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:210bad8ce6c0489d9859d9dd95712fc02021-11-25T16:46:59ZExtensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain10.3390/biology101110992079-7737https://doaj.org/article/210bad8ce6c0489d9859d9dd95712fc02021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/10/11/1099https://doaj.org/toc/2079-7737Birdsong is a precisely timed animal behavior. The connectivity of song premotor neural networks has been proposed to underlie the temporal patterns of neuronal activity that control vocal muscle movements during singing. Although the connectivity of premotor nuclei via chemical synapses has been characterized, electrical synapses and their molecular identity remain unexplored. We show with in situ hybridizations that GJD2 mRNA, coding for the major channel-forming electrical synapse protein in mammals, connexin 36, is expressed in the two nuclei that control song production, HVC and RA from canaries and zebra finches. In canaries’ HVC, GJD2 mRNA is extensively expressed in GABAergic and only a fraction of glutamatergic cells. By contrast, in RA, GJD2 mRNA expression is widespread in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. Remarkably, GJD2 expression is similar in song nuclei and their respective embedding brain regions, revealing the widespread expression of GJD2 in the avian brain. Inspection of a single-cell sequencing database from zebra and Bengalese finches generalizes the distributions of electrical synapses across cell types and song nuclei that we found in HVC and RA from canaries, reveals a differential GJD2 mRNA expression in HVC glutamatergic subtypes and its transient increase along the neurogenic lineage. We propose that songbirds are a suitable model to investigate the contribution of electrical synapses to motor skill learning and production.Pepe AlcamiSanthosh TotageraNina Sohnius-WilhelmiStefan LeitnerBenedikt GrotheCarolina Frankl-VilchesManfred GahrMDPI AGarticleelectrical synapseGJD2connexin 36birdsongsong nucleipremotor networksBiology (General)QH301-705.5ENBiology, Vol 10, Iss 1099, p 1099 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	electrical synapse GJD2 connexin 36 birdsong song nuclei premotor networks Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	electrical synapse GJD2 connexin 36 birdsong song nuclei premotor networks Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Pepe Alcami Santhosh Totagera Nina Sohnius-Wilhelmi Stefan Leitner Benedikt Grothe Carolina Frankl-Vilches Manfred Gahr Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
description	Birdsong is a precisely timed animal behavior. The connectivity of song premotor neural networks has been proposed to underlie the temporal patterns of neuronal activity that control vocal muscle movements during singing. Although the connectivity of premotor nuclei via chemical synapses has been characterized, electrical synapses and their molecular identity remain unexplored. We show with in situ hybridizations that GJD2 mRNA, coding for the major channel-forming electrical synapse protein in mammals, connexin 36, is expressed in the two nuclei that control song production, HVC and RA from canaries and zebra finches. In canaries’ HVC, GJD2 mRNA is extensively expressed in GABAergic and only a fraction of glutamatergic cells. By contrast, in RA, GJD2 mRNA expression is widespread in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons. Remarkably, GJD2 expression is similar in song nuclei and their respective embedding brain regions, revealing the widespread expression of GJD2 in the avian brain. Inspection of a single-cell sequencing database from zebra and Bengalese finches generalizes the distributions of electrical synapses across cell types and song nuclei that we found in HVC and RA from canaries, reveals a differential GJD2 mRNA expression in HVC glutamatergic subtypes and its transient increase along the neurogenic lineage. We propose that songbirds are a suitable model to investigate the contribution of electrical synapses to motor skill learning and production.
format	article
author	Pepe Alcami Santhosh Totagera Nina Sohnius-Wilhelmi Stefan Leitner Benedikt Grothe Carolina Frankl-Vilches Manfred Gahr
author_facet	Pepe Alcami Santhosh Totagera Nina Sohnius-Wilhelmi Stefan Leitner Benedikt Grothe Carolina Frankl-Vilches Manfred Gahr
author_sort	Pepe Alcami
title	Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
title_short	Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
title_full	Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
title_fullStr	Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
title_full_unstemmed	Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain
title_sort	extensive gjd2 expression in the song motor pathway reveals the extent of electrical synapses in the songbird brain
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/210bad8ce6c0489d9859d9dd95712fc0
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Extensive GJD2 Expression in the Song Motor Pathway Reveals the Extent of Electrical Synapses in the Songbird Brain

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