Shared brain transcriptome signatures of social evolution and plasticity in shell-dwelling cichlid fishes

Social-living Tanganyikan cichlids show consistent telencephalon upregulation of translation, protein homeostasis, and energy metabolism pathways, overlapping with independently evolved sociality.

• Why it matters: It remains unclear whether within-species behavioral plasticity and between-species social evolution rely on shared neurogenomic mechanisms.
• What they did: Brain transcriptomes from the telencephalon and diencephalon were compared across two facultatively social cichlid species (solitary vs social) and a closely related obligatory solitary, using differential expression and Gene Set Enrichment Analyses.
• The result: Plasticity and evolutionary transitions converge on the same functional programs largely in the telencephalon, while the diencephalon shows limited, inconsistent signatures, supporting a conserved genetic toolkit for social behavior.

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