Early Neurogenomic Response Associated with Variation in Guppy Female Mate Preference

Understanding the evolution of mate choice requires dissecting the mechanisms of female preference, particularly how these differ among social contexts and preference phenotypes. Here we study the female neurogenomic response after only 10 minutes of mate exposure in both a sensory component (optic tectum) and a decision-making component (telencephalon) of the brain. By comparing the transcriptional response between females with and without preferences for colorful males, we identified unique neurogenomic elements associated with the female preference phenotype that are not present in females without preference. Network analysis revealed different properties for this response at the sensory-processing and the decision-making levels, and showed that this response is highly centralized in the telencephalon. Furthermore, we identified an additional set of genes that vary in expression across social contexts, beyond mate evaluation. We show that transcription factors among those loci are predicted to regulate the transcriptional response of the genes we found to be associated with female preference.