Effects of stress coping styles and social defeat on zebrafish behaviour and brain transcriptomics

Abstract

Individuals with divergent personality traits corresponding to stress coping styles have been suggested to differ in behavioural and neural plasticity. To assess the effects of social experience on the coping ability of wild zebrafish selectively bred for boldness/shyness, we used a model of social defeat stress. Behavioural tests were performed to assess parameters such as boldness/exploration, aggressiveness, and displaced behaviour. Gene expression changes in the brain were assessed via RNA sequencing. The main results suggest a strong effect of shyness and boldness phenotype on behaviour and brain transcriptome. Fish of the shy line displayed significant behavioural changes, while the number of differentially expressed genes remained low. In contrast, fish of the bold line exhibited a small effect on behaviour and pronounced changes in brain gene expression. This study highlights the importance of boldness phenotype and its influence on the response to social challenges at the behavioural and transcriptomic levels.