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Harmon TC, Madlon-Kay S, Pearson J, Mooney R. Vocalization modulates the mouse auditory cortex even in the absence of hearing. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114611. [PMID: 39116205 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2024] [Revised: 07/10/2024] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Vocal communication depends on distinguishing self-generated vocalizations from other sounds. Vocal motor corollary discharge (CD) signals are thought to support this ability by adaptively suppressing auditory cortical responses to auditory feedback. One challenge is that vocalizations, especially those produced during courtship and other social interactions, are accompanied by other movements and are emitted during a state of heightened arousal, factors that could potentially modulate auditory cortical activity. Here, we monitor auditory cortical activity, ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), and other non-vocal courtship behaviors in a head-fixed male mouse while he interacts with a female mouse. This approach reveals a vocalization-specific signature in the auditory cortex that suppresses the activity of USV playback-excited neurons, emerges before vocal onset, and scales with USV band power. Notably, this vocal modulatory signature is also present in the auditory cortex of congenitally deaf mice, revealing an adaptive vocal CD signal that manifests independently of auditory feedback or auditory experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas C Harmon
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
| | - Seth Madlon-Kay
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| | - John Pearson
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA; Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA; Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
| | - Richard Mooney
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710, USA
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2
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Wirthlin ME, Schmid TA, Elie JE, Zhang X, Kowalczyk A, Redlich R, Shvareva VA, Rakuljic A, Ji MB, Bhat NS, Kaplow IM, Schäffer DE, Lawler AJ, Wang AZ, Phan BN, Annaldasula S, Brown AR, Lu T, Lim BK, Azim E, Clark NL, Meyer WK, Pond SLK, Chikina M, Yartsev MM, Pfenning AR. Vocal learning-associated convergent evolution in mammalian proteins and regulatory elements. Science 2024; 383:eabn3263. [PMID: 38422184 PMCID: PMC11313673 DOI: 10.1126/science.abn3263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Vocal production learning ("vocal learning") is a convergently evolved trait in vertebrates. To identify brain genomic elements associated with mammalian vocal learning, we integrated genomic, anatomical, and neurophysiological data from the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with analyses of the genomes of 215 placental mammals. First, we identified a set of proteins evolving more slowly in vocal learners. Then, we discovered a vocal motor cortical region in the Egyptian fruit bat, an emergent vocal learner, and leveraged that knowledge to identify active cis-regulatory elements in the motor cortex of vocal learners. Machine learning methods applied to motor cortex open chromatin revealed 50 enhancers robustly associated with vocal learning whose activity tended to be lower in vocal learners. Our research implicates convergent losses of motor cortex regulatory elements in mammalian vocal learning evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Morgan E. Wirthlin
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
| | - Tobias A. Schmid
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Julie E. Elie
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Xiaomeng Zhang
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Amanda Kowalczyk
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
| | - Ruby Redlich
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Varvara A. Shvareva
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Ashley Rakuljic
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Maria B. Ji
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Ninad S. Bhat
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Irene M. Kaplow
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
| | - Daniel E. Schäffer
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Alyssa J. Lawler
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
- Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Andrew Z. Wang
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - BaDoi N. Phan
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
| | - Siddharth Annaldasula
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Ashley R. Brown
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Present address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University; Durham, NC 27705
| | - Tianyu Lu
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Byung Kook Lim
- Neurobiology section, Division of Biological Science, University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Eiman Azim
- Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies; La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Nathan L. Clark
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Wynn K. Meyer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University; Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA
| | | | - Maria Chikina
- Department of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Michael M. Yartsev
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley; Berkeley, CA 94708, USA
| | - Andreas R. Pfenning
- Department of Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
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3
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Banerjee A, Chen F, Druckmann S, Long MA. Temporal scaling of motor cortical dynamics reveals hierarchical control of vocal production. Nat Neurosci 2024; 27:527-535. [PMID: 38291282 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01556-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024]
Abstract
Neocortical activity is thought to mediate voluntary control over vocal production, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. In a highly vocal rodent, the male Alston's singing mouse, we investigate neural dynamics in the orofacial motor cortex (OMC), a structure critical for vocal behavior. We first describe neural activity that is modulated by component notes (~100 ms), probably representing sensory feedback. At longer timescales, however, OMC neurons exhibit diverse and often persistent premotor firing patterns that stretch or compress with song duration (~10 s). Using computational modeling, we demonstrate that such temporal scaling, acting through downstream motor production circuits, can enable vocal flexibility. These results provide a framework for studying hierarchical control circuits, a common design principle across many natural and artificial systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arkarup Banerjee
- NYU Neuroscience Institute, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA.
| | - Feng Chen
- Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Shaul Druckmann
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Michael A Long
- NYU Neuroscience Institute, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Otolaryngology, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
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Schuppe ER, Ballagh I, Akbari N, Fang W, Perelmuter JT, Radtke CH, Marchaterre MA, Bass AH. Midbrain node for context-specific vocalisation in fish. Nat Commun 2024; 15:189. [PMID: 38167237 PMCID: PMC10762186 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43794-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Vocalizations communicate information indicative of behavioural state across divergent social contexts. Yet, how brain regions actively pattern the acoustic features of context-specific vocal signals remains largely unexplored. The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) is a major site for initiating vocalization among mammals, including primates. We show that PAG neurons in a highly vocal fish species (Porichthys notatus) are activated in distinct patterns during agonistic versus courtship calling by males, with few co-activated during a non-vocal behaviour, foraging. Pharmacological manipulations within vocally active PAG, but not hindbrain, sites evoke vocal network output to sonic muscles matching the temporal features of courtship and agonistic calls, showing that a balance of inhibitory and excitatory dynamics is likely necessary for patterning different call types. Collectively, these findings support the hypothesis that vocal species of fish and mammals share functionally comparable PAG nodes that in some species can influence the acoustic structure of social context-specific vocal signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric R Schuppe
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Irene Ballagh
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Department of Zoology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada
| | - Najva Akbari
- Department of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Wenxuan Fang
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, BC, Canada
| | | | - Caleb H Radtke
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | | | - Andrew H Bass
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
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5
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Kelley DB. Convergent and divergent neural circuit architectures that support acoustic communication. Front Neural Circuits 2022; 16:976789. [PMID: 36466364 PMCID: PMC9712726 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2022.976789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal communication is used across extant vertebrates, is evolutionarily ancient, and been maintained, in many lineages. Here I review the neural circuit architectures that support intraspecific acoustic signaling in representative anuran, mammalian and avian species as well as two invertebrates, fruit flies and Hawaiian crickets. I focus on hindbrain motor control motifs and their ties to respiratory circuits, expression of receptors for gonadal steroids in motor, sensory, and limbic neurons as well as divergent modalities that evoke vocal responses. Hindbrain and limbic participants in acoustic communication are highly conserved, while forebrain participants have diverged between anurans and mammals, as well as songbirds and rodents. I discuss the roles of natural and sexual selection in driving speciation, as well as exaptation of circuit elements with ancestral roles in respiration, for producing sounds and driving rhythmic vocal features. Recent technical advances in whole brain fMRI across species will enable real time imaging of acoustic signaling partners, tying auditory perception to vocal production.
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