PUBLICATION

Behavioral genetics in larval zebrafish: Learning from the young

Authors
Wolman, M., and Granato, M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-120215-19
Date
2012
Source
Developmental Neurobiology   72(3): 366-372 (Review)
Registered Authors
Granato, Michael, Wolman, Marc
Keywords
zebrafish, startle response, habituation, swimming, genetic screen, behavior
MeSH Terms
  • Age Factors
  • Animals
  • Genetics, Behavioral*/methods
  • Habituation, Psychophysiologic/physiology
  • Humans
  • Larva
  • Learning/physiology*
  • Reflex, Startle/physiology
  • Zebrafish/genetics*
  • Zebrafish/growth & development*
PubMed
22328273 Full text @ Dev. Neurobiol.
Abstract

Deciphering the genetic code that determines how the vertebrate nervous system assembles into neural circuits that ultimately control behavior is a fascinating and challenging question in modern neurobiology. Because of the complexity of this problem, successful strategies require a simple yet focused experimental approach without limiting the scope of the discovery. Unbiased, large-scale forward genetic screens in invertebrate organisms have yielded great insight into the genetic regulation of neural circuit assembly and function. For many reasons, this highly successful approach has been difficult to recapitulate in the behavioral neuroscience field's classic vertebrate model organisms—rodents. Here, we discuss how larval zebrafish provide a promising model system to which we can apply the design of invertebrate behavior-based screens to reveal the genetic mechanisms critical for neural circuit assembly and function in vertebrates.

Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping