| Abstract: | Diverse a nimal species use multimodal communica tion signals to coordina te reproductive behavior. Despite active research in this field, the brain mechanisms underlying multimodal communication remain poorly understood. Similar to humans and many mammalian species, anurans often produce auditory signals accompanied by conspicuous visual cues(e.g., vocal sac inflation). In this study, we used video playbacks to determine the role of vocal-sac inflation in little torrent frogs(Amolops torrentis). Then we exposed females to blank, visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli and analyzed whole brain tissue gene expression changes using RNAseq. The results showed that both auditory cues(i.e., male advertisement calls) and visual cues were attractive to female frogs, although auditory cues were more attractive than visual cues. Females preferred simultaneous bimodal cues to unimodal cues. The hierarchical clustering of differentially expressed genes showed a close relationship between neurogenomic states and momentarily expressed sexual signals. We also found that the Gene Ontology terms and KEGG pathways involved in energy metabolism were mostly increased in blank contrast versus visual, acoustic, or audiovisual stimuli, indicating that brain energy use may play an important role in response to these stimuli. In sum, behavioral and neurogenomic responses to acoustic and visual cues are correlated in female little torrent frogs. |
