Variation and Variability in Drosophila Grooming Behavior

Behavioral differences can be observed between species or populations (variation) or between individuals in a genetically similar population (variability). Here, we investigate genetic differences as a possible source of variation and variability in Drosophila grooming. Drosophila grooming behavior confers survival and social benefits. Although the leg movements that constitute the grooming sequence are stereotyped, their order is not fixed. Grooming features of five drosophilid species exposed to a dust irritant were analyzed. Components of grooming behavior were conserved between and within species. However, significant differences in grooming syntax were identified, corresponding both to anterior and posterior grooming actions. Genetic heterogeneity was not found to be related to grooming variability, as melanogaster flies bred to increase genetic het-erogeneity did not exhibit increased variability in grooming syntax. Likewise, no relationship between decreased heterogeneity and variability was identified. Finally, individual melanogaster flies were observed on consecutive days to determine the degree of variability of grooming behavior within an individual over time. Individual flies were not found to possess strong, stable grooming traits over several recordings. Additionally, standardization of sensory input using optogenetics did not eliminate grooming variability. In aggregate, these data suggest the importance of sensory inputs and other factors such as life history in grooming variability.Significance StatementBroadly speaking, genes influence behavior, but genes also play a role in determining the natural range of behavioral variability. Here, we show that Drosophila species exhibit differences in grooming behavior both between and within species. In particular, we demonstrate that transitions between grooming actions differ significantly between drosophilid species and common melanogaster stock lines, suggesting that these actions are under partial genetic control. Within melanogaster, however, genotype had no observable effect on the range of grooming behavior. This work establishes similarities in grooming behavior between drosophilids while also highlighting important differences, providing targets for future explorations of genetic, sensory, and developmental contributions to behavior.

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Development and Emergence of Individual Variability in the Functional Connectivity Architecture of the Preterm Human Brain

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhy302 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (10) ◽

pp. 4208-4222 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Yuehua Xu ◽

Miao Cao ◽

Xuhong Liao ◽

Mingrui Xia ◽

Xindi Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Human Brain ◽

Network Architecture ◽

Brain Networks ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Distance Constraint ◽

Behavioral Differences ◽

Sensorimotor Network ◽

Middle Range ◽

Brain Functional Connectivity

Abstract Individual variability in human brain networks underlies individual differences in cognition and behaviors. However, researchers have not conclusively determined when individual variability patterns of the brain networks emerge and how they develop in the early phase. Here, we employed resting-state functional MRI data and whole-brain functional connectivity analyses in 40 neonates aged around 31–42 postmenstrual weeks to characterize the spatial distribution and development modes of individual variability in the functional network architecture. We observed lower individual variability in primary sensorimotor and visual areas and higher variability in association regions at the third trimester, and these patterns are generally similar to those of adult brains. Different functional systems showed dramatic differences in the development of individual variability, with significant decreases in the sensorimotor network; decreasing trends in the visual, subcortical, and dorsal and ventral attention networks, and limited change in the default mode, frontoparietal and limbic networks. The patterns of individual variability were negatively correlated with the short- to middle-range connection strength/number and this distance constraint was significantly strengthened throughout development. Our findings highlight the development and emergence of individual variability in the functional architecture of the prenatal brain, which may lay network foundations for individual behavioral differences later in life.

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An Examination of the Activity Patterns of Elementary School Children

Pediatric Exercise Science ◽

10.1123/pes.14.4.432 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. 432-441 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Susan D. Vincent ◽

Robert P. Pangrazi

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Activity Patterns ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Same Sex ◽

Factorial Anova ◽

Step Counts ◽

Meaningful Activity ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Steps Per Day

Research has suggested a trend of decreasing activity with age necessitating a renewed emphasis on promoting physical activity for children. The purpose of this study was to assess current physical activity levels of children and to establish initial standards for comparison in determining appropriate activity levels of children based on pedometer counts. Children, 6–12 years old (N = 711), wore sealed pedometers for 4 consecutive days. Mean step counts ranged from 10,479–11,274 and 12300–13989 for girls and boys respectively. Factorial ANOVA found a significant difference between sex (F = 90.16, p < .01) but not among age (F = 0.78, p = .587). Great individual variability existed among children of the same sex. Further analysis found significant differences among children of the same sex above the 80th percentile and below the 20th percentile. A reasonable activity standard might be approximately 11,000 and 13,000 steps per day for girls and boys respectively, although further discussion of this is warranted. The descriptive nature of this study provides insights into the activity patterns of children and the mean step counts for boys and girls at each age can serve as a preliminary guide for determining meaningful activity levels for children based on pedometer counts.

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The relationship between physical activity, BMI, circadian rhythm, and sleep with cognition in bipolar disorder

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s003329172000210x ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Jennifer L. Burgess ◽

Andrew J. Bradley ◽

Kirstie N. Anderson ◽

P. Gallagher ◽

R. Hamish McAllister-Williams

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Circadian Rhythm ◽

Reaction Time ◽

Mood State ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Cognitive Tasks ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Activity Levels

Abstract Background Cognitive deficits affect a significant proportion of patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Problems with sustained attention have been found independent of mood state and the causes are unclear. We aimed to investigate whether physical parameters such as activity levels, sleep, and body mass index (BMI) may be contributing factors. Methods Forty-six patients with BD and 42 controls completed a battery of neuropsychological tests and wore a triaxial accelerometer for 21 days which collected information on physical activity, sleep, and circadian rhythm. Ex-Gaussian analyses were used to characterise reaction time distributions. We used hierarchical regression analyses to examine whether physical activity, BMI, circadian rhythm, and sleep predicted variance in the performance of cognitive tasks. Results Neither physical activity, BMI, nor circadian rhythm predicted significant variance on any of the cognitive tasks. However, the presence of a sleep abnormality significantly predicted a higher intra-individual variability of the reaction time distributions on the Attention Network Task. Conclusions This study suggests that there is an association between sleep abnormalities and cognition in BD, with little or no relationship with physical activity, BMI, and circadian rhythm.

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Changing pattern in the basal ganglia: motor switching under reduced dopaminergic drive

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/srep23327 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Vincenzo G. Fiore ◽

Francesco Rigoli ◽

Max-Philipp Stenner ◽

Tino Zaehle ◽

Frank Hirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Basal Ganglia ◽

Standard Model ◽

Sensory Input ◽

Effective Connectivity ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Indirect Pathway ◽

The Standard Model ◽

Insight Into ◽

New Framework ◽

Deep Brain

Abstract Action selection in the basal ganglia is often described within the framework of a standard model, associating low dopaminergic drive with motor suppression. Whilst powerful, this model does not explain several clinical and experimental data, including varying therapeutic efficacy across movement disorders. We tested the predictions of this model in patients with Parkinson’s disease, on and off subthalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS), focussing on adaptive sensory-motor responses to a changing environment and maintenance of an action until it is no longer suitable. Surprisingly, we observed prolonged perseverance under on-stimulation, and high inter-individual variability in terms of the motor selections performed when comparing the two conditions. To account for these data, we revised the standard model exploring its space of parameters and associated motor functions and found that, depending on effective connectivity between external and internal parts of the globus pallidus and saliency of the sensory input, a low dopaminergic drive can result in increased, dysfunctional, motor switching, besides motor suppression. This new framework provides insight into the biophysical mechanisms underlying DBS, allowing a description in terms of alteration of the signal-to-baseline ratio in the indirect pathway, which better account of known electrophysiological data in comparison with the standard model.

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Cortical and striatal circuits together encode transitions in natural behavior

Science Advances ◽

10.1126/sciadv.abc1173 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (41) ◽

pp. eabc1173

Author(s):

Joel Sjöbom ◽

Martin Tamtè ◽

Pär Halje ◽

Ivani Brys ◽

Per Petersson

Keyword(s):

Dorsal Striatum ◽

Exact Nature ◽

Grooming Behavior ◽

Natural Behavior ◽

Sequential Behavior ◽

Neuronal Coding ◽

Behavioral Transitions ◽

State Dependent ◽

Action Sequences ◽

Motor Actions

In natural behavior, we fluidly change from one type of activity to another in a sequence of motor actions. Corticostriatal circuits are thought to have a particularly important role in the construction of action sequences, but neuronal coding of a sequential behavior consisting of different motor programs has not been investigated at the circuit level in corticostriatal networks, making the exact nature of this involvement elusive. Here, we show, by analyzing spontaneous self-grooming in rats, that neuronal modulation in motor cortex and dorsal striatum is strongly related to transitions between behaviors. Our data suggest that longer action sequences in rodent grooming behavior emerge from stepwise control of individual behavioral transitions, where future actions are encoded differently depending on current motor state. This state-dependent motor coding was found to differentiate between rare behavioral transitions and as opposed to more habitual sequencing of actions.

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GENETIC TYPING OF LEUCONOSTOC MESENTEROIDES USING PCR

Topical issues of processing of meat and milk raw materials ◽

10.47612/2220-8755-2019-14-40-49 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 40-49

Author(s):

A. Biruk ◽

Y. Tarashkevich ◽

N. Furik

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analysis ◽

Genetic Heterogeneity ◽

Leuconostoc Mesenteroides ◽

Genetic Differences ◽

Bootstrap Support ◽

Genetic Typing ◽

Rapd Pcr ◽

High Level ◽

Combined Methods

We studied the possibility of using RAPD-PCR with primers: ERIC1R-1, ERIC2-1, BOXA1R, BOXA2R and Rep-PCR with primers P15, P16, XD8, XD9, RAPD-mes, (GTG)5 to identify genetic heterogeneity of 9 strains and 8 isolates of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Three clusters of cultures with a high level of bootstrap support were identified as a result of phylogenetic analysis obtained when typing Leuconostoc. The obtained results indicate the possibility of revealing genetic differences in the profile of the generated amplicons among Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains using the combined methods of Rep-PCR and RAPD-PCR.

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Behavioural and physiological responses of birds to environmentally relevant concentrations of an antidepressant

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2013.0575 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 369 (1656) ◽

pp. 20130575 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Tom G. Bean ◽

Alistair B. A. Boxall ◽

Julie Lane ◽

Katherine A. Herborn ◽

Stéphane Pietravalle ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Physiological Responses ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Control Treatment ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Wildlife Species ◽

Contaminated Food ◽

In The Wild ◽

Exposure Levels ◽

The Common

Many wildlife species forage on sewage-contaminated food, for example, at wastewater treatment plants and on fields fertilized with sewage sludge. The resultant exposure to human pharmaceuticals remains poorly studied for terrestrial species. On the basis of predicted exposure levels in the wild, we administered the common antidepressant fluoxetine (FLUOX) or control treatment via prey to wild-caught starlings ( Sturnus vulgaris ) for 22 weeks over winter. To investigate responses to fluoxetine, birds were moved from their group aviaries into individual cages for 2 days. Boldness, exploration and activity levels showed no treatment effects but controls and FLUOX birds habituated differently to isolation in terms of the concentration of corticosterone (CORT) metabolites in faeces. The controls that excreted higher concentrations of CORT metabolites on day 1 lost more body mass by day 2 of isolation than those which excreted lower levels of CORT metabolites. CORT metabolites and mass loss were unrelated in FLUOX birds. When we investigated the movements of birds in their group aviaries, we found the controls made a higher frequency of visits to food trays than FLUOX birds around the important foraging periods of sunrise and sunset, as is optimal for wintering birds. Although individual variability makes interpreting the sub-lethal endpoints measured challenging, our data suggest that fluoxetine at environmentally relevant concentrations can significantly alter behaviour and physiology.

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Grapevine red blotch-associated virus is Present in Free-Living Vitis spp. Proximal to Cultivated Grapevines

Phytopathology ◽

10.1094/phyto-01-16-0035-r ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 106 (6) ◽

pp. 663-670 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Keith L. Perry ◽

Heather McLane ◽

Muhammad Z. Hyder ◽

Gerald S. Dangl ◽

Jeremy R. Thompson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitis Vinifera ◽

Genetic Heterogeneity ◽

Genetic Differences ◽

The Other ◽

Riparian Habitat ◽

Free Living ◽

Cabernet Franc ◽

Epidemiological Significance ◽

Nucleotide Region ◽

Vitis Spp

Red blotch is an emerging disease of grapevine associated with grapevine red blotch-associated virus (GRBaV). The virus spreads with infected planting stocks but no vector of epidemiological significance has been conclusively identified. A vineyard block of red-blotch-affected Vitis vinifera ‘Cabernet franc’ clone 214 was observed in California, with a clustering of infected, symptomatic vines focused along one edge of the field proximal to a riparian habitat with free-living Vitis spp. No genetic heterogeneity was observed in a 587-nucleotide region of the GRBaV genome in a population of 44 Cabernet franc clone 214 isolates. By contrast, genetic differences were observed in isolates from other cultivars and clones growing in adjacent blocks. GRBaV was confirmed infecting four free-living vines, two of which were shown to be V. californica × V. vinifera hybrids. The genomes of three free-living GRBaV vine isolates and seven from V. vinifera cultivars were compared; free-living vine isolates were shown to be more similar to each other and a ‘Merlot’ isolate than to the other cultivated vine isolates. The finding that GRBaV is present in free-living Vitis spp. indicates the virus can be spread by natural (nonhuman-mediated) means, and we hypothesize that in-field spread of GRBaV is occurring.

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Exercise Preferences Are Different after Stroke

Stroke Research and Treatment ◽

10.1155/2012/890946 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Geraldine Banks ◽

Julie Bernhardt ◽

Leonid Churilov ◽

Toby B. Cumming

Keyword(s):

A Priori ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Group Differences ◽

Stroke Survivors ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Rehabilitation Programs ◽

Barriers To Exercise ◽

Exercise Preference ◽

And Control

Objective. To explore exercise preferences in stroke survivors and controls.Methods. A novel scale—the Exercise Preference Questionnaire—was developed for this study. This questionnaire, together with established assessments of physical activities, mood, and quality of life, was completed in a single assessment session.Results. Twenty-three adult stroke survivors (mean age 63, 65% male) and 41 healthy controls (mean age 61, 66% male) participated. The groups differed on 4 of the 5a prioriexercise preference factors: relative to controls, stroke survivors preferred exercise to be more structured, in a group, at a gym or fitness centre, and for exercises to be demonstrated. Factor analysis yielded 6 data-driven factors, and these factors also differentiated stroke and control groups. There was evidence that group differences were diminished when activity levels and psychological wellbeing were accounted for. Individual variability in exercise preferences and reported barriers to exercise are outlined.Conclusion. Stroke survivors have different exercise preferences, and a better understanding of these preferences can be used to inform rehabilitation programs and increase adherence.

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