Specification of Select Hypothalamic Circuits and Innate Behaviors by the Embryonic Patterning Gene Dbx1

• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2015.03.022
• Publication Date: 2015-04-11T11:23:08Z
• Authors: Katie Sokolowski; Shigeyuki Esumi; Tsutomu Hirata; Yasmin Kamal; Tuyen Tran; Andrew Lam; Livio Oboti; Sherri-Chanelle B...; Manar Zaghlula; Jennifer Martinez; Svetlana Ghimbovschi; Susan Knoblach; Alessandra Pierani; Nobuaki Tamamaki; Nirao M. Shah; Kevin S. Jones; Joshua G. Corbin
• Keywords: Homeodomain Proteins; Instinct; Male; Mice, Knockout; Neurons; 0301 basic medicine; Orexins; Behavior, Animal; Neuropeptides; Hypothalamus; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Gene Expression; Feeding Behavior; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Animals; Female; Body Patterning

The hypothalamus integrates information required for the production of a variety of innate behaviors such as feeding, mating, aggression, and predator avoidance. Despite an extensive knowledge of hypothalamic function, how embryonic genetic programs specify circuits that regulate these behaviors remains unknown. Here, we find that in the hypothalamus the developmentally regulated homeodomain-containing transcription factor Dbx1 is required for the generation of specific subclasses of neurons within the lateral hypothalamic area/zona incerta (LH) and the arcuate (Arc) nucleus. Consistent with this specific developmental role, Dbx1 hypothalamic-specific conditional-knockout mice display attenuated responses to predator odor and feeding stressors but do not display deficits in other innate behaviors such as mating or conspecific aggression. Thus, activity of a single developmentally regulated gene, Dbx1, is a shared requirement for the specification of hypothalamic nuclei governing a subset of innate behaviors. VIDEO ABSTRACT.