The neural circuits of social preference (360G-Wellcome-202465_Z_16_Z)

Social preference requires the ability to recognize and approach individuals of the same species (conspecifics). In humans, these behaviours are present from birth and are thought to be impaired in developmental disorders, such as autism, that are characterized by aberrant sociality. The innate brain circuitry that underlies human social preference is conserved in other social vertebrates, including the genetically accessible zebrafish. I have recently shown that larval zebrafish exhibit social preference from just two weeks post fertilization. At this developmental stage, larvae are transparent and thus amenable to the full range of modern optical techniques for single cell resolution circuit analysis. I will first use reporters that integrate neural activity to highlight the anatomical correlates of the social preference circuit. Two-photon calcium imaging during the presentation of virtual social stimuli will then be used to characterize the functional properties of the identified circuit elements. Finally, given that fish development occurs ex utero, I will monitor the development of this essential circuit and precisely document the impact of environmental and genetic manipulations that have been implicated in models of human disease.