Cognition and brain gene expression vary with sex and body size in a polyphenic dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus)
- 1Indiana University Bloomington
Abstract
Individual variation in cognition can have critical fitness consequences for animals. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between cognition and ecologically relevant life history traits that vary within species. Furthermore, we lack a unified understanding of how these traits are integrated mechanistically with the cognitive outcomes they are associated with. We examined the relationship between cognitive performance on multiple tests on one side--and sex, a nutritionally-cued reproductive male polyphenism, and body size on the other--as well as their respective relationships to brain gene expression. Using the bull-headed dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus), we performed an associative learning assay, a spatial cognition assay, and a detour test on large fighter males, small sneaker males, and correspondingly large and small females. We then performed RNAseq on the brains of the beetles that had performed these assays. We found that sex was an important predictor of performance on the spatial cognition assay, while body size (which is closely related to early life nutrition) was associated with performance on the detour task. The associative learning assay did not yield significant results. RNAseq data revealed complex and multifaceted relationships between brain gene expression and our factors of interest. This work provides insights into the complex links between cognition, brains, and ecologically relevant traits.
Related
- CEP-IP with CMRF in SEA-AD Microglia: A Mitochondrial Co-expression Module Linked to Cognition
- Bos indicus cattle resistant to digital dermatitis exhibit a balanced proinflammatory cytokine response upon exposure to Treponema phagedenis in contrast to Bos taurus cattle
- Regional Differentiation of Ground–Active Beetle Assemblages Across Contrasting Dryland Alfalfa Agroecosystems
- Cross-species single cell transcriptomics in fly and beetle reveals the genetic core of brain neuroblast specification
- All Sensilla on the Body of the Smallest Beetle Scydosella musawasensis (Coleoptera: Ptiliidae) and Their Implications for the Evolution of the External Sensory Apparatus During Miniaturization
BibTeX
@misc{westwick2026cognition,
title = {{Cognition and brain gene expression vary with sex and body size in a polyphenic dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus)}},
author = {R. Westwick and A. Moczek},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.14.759186},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.14.759186v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Cognition and brain gene expression vary with sex and body size in a polyphenic dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus)
AU - R. Westwick
AU - A. Moczek
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.14.759186
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.14.759186v1
AB - Individual variation in cognition can have critical fitness consequences for animals. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between cognition and ecologically relevant life history traits that vary within species. Furthermore, we lack a unified understanding of how these traits are integrated mechanistically with the cognitive outcomes they are associated with. We examined the relationship between cognitive performance on multiple tests on one side--and sex, a nutritionally-cued reproductive male polyphenism, and body size on the other--as well as their respective relationships to brain gene expression. Using the bull-headed dung beetle (Onthophagus taurus), we performed an associative learning assay, a spatial cognition assay, and a detour test on large fighter males, small sneaker males, and correspondingly large and small females. We then performed RNAseq on the brains of the beetles that had performed these assays. We found that sex was an important predictor of performance on the spatial cognition assay, while body size (which is closely related to early life nutrition) was associated with performance on the detour task. The associative learning assay did not yield significant results. RNAseq data revealed complex and multifaceted relationships between brain gene expression and our factors of interest. This work provides insights into the complex links between cognition, brains, and ecologically relevant traits.
ER -