Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C002164/1
Molecular and physiological characterisation of rank position within dominance hierarchies
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Dr LU Sneddon, University of Liverpool, Sch of Biological Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Liverpool, Sch of Biological Sciences
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Environmental Genomics
- Behavioural Ecology
- Abstract:
- Competition for resources, such as food, shelter and mates, when limited can lead to high levels of aggression between individuals. Many animals form dominance hierarchies where a clear pecking order is apparent and dependent upon position or rank within the hierarchy; this determines the probability of access to resources. Therefore, rank position within a hierarchy has a major impact on an animal?s success in terms of survivorship (e.g. access to food) and passing on genes to the next generation or Darwinian fitness (e.g. access to mates). The dominant, rank 1, tends to obtain exclusive or priority access to resources and can limit the access of lower rank members to these resources. Hierarchies can be composed of a highly aggressive dominant, aggressive subdominants and submissive subordinates. This project has already demonstrated that physiological measurements are profoundly different between individuals of different rank and that these differences also extend to the level of genes. Microarray technology, which allows the monitoring of expression of thousands of genes at one time, was used to assess if genes differ between three ranks within dominance hierarchies. Individual fish held under growth and stress regimes enabled the identification of genes solely related to dominance status. Three candidate genes have been identified that correlate with rank position: MAP kinase which has previously been linked to stress responses; GABA A which has been implicated in aggression and anxiety; and ependymin which has not been linked to aggression but serves a role in learning and memory and cold tolerance. Profiles of gene expression were consistent between a number of hierarchies and this may explain why physiology differs between the ranks. Therefore, animals of different status may respond in a different way or at a different rate when subject to any environmental or biological variation. Indeed, when hierarchies were subject to simulated drought or spate, rank 2 tended to lose its position to rank 3. Rank 2 has the least favourable position since it loses weight, has high stress levels in terms of cortisol and stress-related gene expression so may be unable to cope under the new circumstances and thus loses position. I now aim to understand if the candidate genes are active at the level of the protein. Also using antisense oligonucleotides and behavioural manipulations I shall assess the effects of downregulation of these genes on the frequency of aggressive behaviour. These approaches will provide novel information to improve our understanding on the causes and consequences of dominance status. Modern technology shall also be adopted to understand if there is a metabolomic signature correlated with rank position and, if so, can dominance be predicted by analysing blood metabolites from individual animals. This will explore whether metabolomics can be used as a diagnostic tool to predict dominance relationships. Understanding the mechanisms and consequences of dominance hierarchies will provide us with new information on their ecological and evolutionary significance in natural populations. These different phenotypes within populations may be relevant to understanding the individual differences in response to ecological change and why there are intraspecific differences with certain individuals showing an adaptive response while others are unable to cope.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C002164/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship
This fellowship award has a total value of £95,133
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - Other Costs |
|---|---|
| £76,133 | £19,000 |
If you need further help, please read the user guide.