Biology subjects

Jourjine, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Jourjine, N..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

The Genetic Architecture of Neonatal Deer Mouse Cries Implicates the Cerebellum in the Temporal Control of an Infant Social Behavior

Vocal communication is a conserved vertebrate social behavior that begins at birth with the cries of infants. These neonatal vocal signals vary across contexts to elicit parental care that matches infant needs, and across species to match species-specific ecologies and social systems. This natural variation presents an opportunity to identify proximate mechanisms supporting flexible neonatal vocal behaviors and their evolution. To this end, we recently described neonatal vocalizations in North American deer mice, a model system for behavioral evolution, and identified heritable interspecific differences in features of these vocalizations. Here, we examine one of these features, temporal structure, which in humans and rodents contains information about infant distress. We find that temporal features of neonatal deer mouse cries have diverged more across deer mouse species than spectral features, and that in a playback assay cry duration affects the ability of pup vocalizations to elicit parental approach. To test proximate mechanisms underlying natural variation in cry duration, we first focus on the cerebellar system, a conserved hindbrain region that contributes to the temporal structure of motor rhythms. We identify interspecies variation in the gross anatomy of the neonatal cerebellum and inferior olive and show that pharmacological perturbation of olivocerebellar function alters the temporal structure of neonatal cries in deer mice. Next, we use an interspecies cross to map the genetic architecture underlying neonatal cry duration in deer mice. We identify a single quantitative trait locus significantly associated with cry duration, as well as candidate genes in this locus that could plausibly underlie species differences in the temporal structure of infant crying. Among these candidates are genes that are differentially expressed between species, function in the developing cerebellum, and have been linked to the duration of neonatal vocal signals in house mice. Taken as a whole, this work identifies contributions of the cerebellar system to neonatal social behaviors and suggests testable neural and genetic hypotheses about the evolution of infant crying.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Vocal communication is seasonal in social groups of wild, free-living house mice

House mice (Mus musculus domesticus) are among the most widely studied laboratory models of mammalian social behavior, yet we know relatively little about the ecology of their behaviors in natural environments. Here, we address this gap using radiotelemetry to track social interactions in a population of wild mice over 10 years, from 2013 to 2023, and interpret these interactions in the context of passive acoustic monitoring data collected from August 2022 until November 2023. Using deep convolutional neural networks, we identify 1.3 million individual vocalizations and align them in time with continuously collected telemetry data recording social interactions between individually identifiable mice. We find that vocalization is seasonal and correlated with long-term dynamics in features of social groups. In addition, we find that vocalization is closely associated in time with entrances to and exits from those groups, occurs most often in the presence of pups, and is correlated with how much time pairs of mice spend together. This work identifies seasonal patterns in the vocalizations of wild mice and lays a foundation to investigate the social role of acoustic communication in wild populations of a classic laboratory model organism.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2023

Hunger- and thirst-sensing neurons modulate a neuroendocrine network to coordinate sugar and water ingestion

Consumption of food and water is tightly regulated by the nervous system to maintain internal nutrient homeostasis. Although generally considered independently, interactions between hunger and thirst drives are important to coordinate competing needs. In Drosophila, four neurons called the Interoceptive Subesophageal zone Neurons (ISNs) respond to intrinsic hunger and thirst signals to oppositely regulate sucrose and water ingestion. Here, we investigate the neural circuit downstream of the ISNs to examine how ingestion is regulated based on internal needs. Utilizing the recently available fly brain connectome, we find that the ISNs synapse with a novel cell type Bilateral T-shaped neuron (BiT) that projects to neuroendocrine centers. In vivo neural manipulations revealed that BiT oppositely regulates sugar and water ingestion. Neuroendocrine cells downstream of ISNs include several peptide-releasing and peptide-sensing neurons, including insulin producing cells (IPC), crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) neurons, and CCHamide-2 receptor isoform RA (CCHa2R-RA) neurons. These neurons contribute differentially to ingestion of sugar and water, with IPCs and CCAP neurons oppositely regulating sugar and water ingestion, and CCHa2R-RA neurons modulating only water ingestion. Thus, the decision to consume sugar or water occurs via regulation of a broad peptidergic network that integrates internal signals of nutritional state to generate nutrient-specific ingestion.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Two pup vocalization types are genetically and functionally separable in deer mice

Vocalization is a widespread vertebrate social behavior that is essential for fitness in the wild. While many vocal behaviors are highly conserved, heritable features of specific vocalization types can vary both within and between species, raising the questions of why and how some vocal behaviors evolve. Here, using new computational tools to automatically detect and cluster vocalizations into distinct acoustic categories, we compare pup isolation calls across neonatal development in eight taxa of deer mice (genus Peromyscus) and compare them to laboratory mice (C57Bl6/j strain) and free-living, wild house mice (Mus musculus musculus). Whereas both Peromyscus and Mus pups produce ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs), Peromyscus pups also produce a second call type with acoustic features, temporal rhythms, and developmental trajectories that are distinct from those of USVs. In deer mice, these tonal and low frequency "cries" are predominantly emitted in postnatal days one through nine, while USVs are primarily made after day nine. Using playback assays, we show that cries result in a more rapid approach by Peromyscus mothers than USVs, suggesting a role for cries in eliciting parental care early in neonatal development. Using genetic crosses between two sister species of deer mice exhibiting large, innate differences in the acoustic structure of cries and USVs, we find that variation in vocalization rate, duration, and pitch display different degrees of genetic dominance and that cry and USV features can be uncoupled in second-generation hybrids. Taken together, this work shows that vocal behavior can evolve quickly between closely related rodent species in which vocalization types, likely serving distinct functions in communication, are controlled by distinct genetic loci.

evolutionary biology↗