Quantitative integration of genetic factors in the learning and production of canary song

Learned bird song is influenced by inherited predispositions. The canary is a model system for the interaction of genes and learning on behaviour, especially because some strains have undergone artificial selection for song. In this study, roller canaries (bred for low-pitched songs) and border canaries (whose song is higher pitched, similar to the wild-type) were interbred and backcrossed to produce 58 males that sorted into seven genetically distinct groups. All males were tutored with the same set of songs, which included both low- and high-pitched syllables. Individuals were consistent within genetic groups but differed between groups in the proportion of low- versus high-pitched syllables they learned and sang. Both sex-linked and autosomal factors affected song learning and song production, in an additive manner. Dominant Z-chromosome factors facilitated high-pitched syllable learning and production, whereas the sex-linked alleles associated with the switch to low-pitched syllables under artificial selection were largely recessive. With respect to autosomal effects, the most surprising result is that males in the same genetic group had almost identical repertoires. This result challenges two common preconceptions: that genetic changes at different loci lead to distinct phenotypic changes, and that genetic predispositions affect learning in simple and general ways. Rather, different combinations of genetic changes can be associated with the same phenotypic effect; and predispositions can be remarkably specific, such as a tendency to learn and sing one song element rather than another.