| dc.description.abstract | Vocal learning is the complex process by which an organism is able to modify its vocal
output, such as birdsong or human speech, due to experience. The pathways used in the
production and modification of human speech and birdsong have been shown to be quite
similar, and so, the determining the transcriptome changes in songbirds provide a logical
first step to learn more about human speech development. In the current study, trained
Zebra Finches, a passerine songbird, were allowed to progress through only the initial
stage of vocal development, as determined by a pitch increase compared with untrained
isolates. The transcriptomes of the four song nuclei and three auditory forebrain regions
of these two groups were compared using microarray hybridizations, and the results
were confirmed using in situ hybridization. In Area X, part of the anterior forebrain
pathway known to play a role in vocal learning, 149 genes were found to be
differentially regulated, with approximately 85% of these genes decreasing in
expression. Of the differentially expressed genes, some have already been found to play
a role, either directly or indirectly, in learning through previous studies, though most have still yet to have their properties determined. This study, though important in and of
itself, is only the first of many pieces to the large process of vocal learning to be put into
place; further work will be able to expand upon work here to fill in gaps in our
knowledge of the vocal learning process. | en |
