# Acoustic modulation of forebrain aggression network in miniature, transparent vocal fish

> **NIH NIH R34** · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $738,000

## Abstract

Assessing social signals, such as vocalizations, figures prominently in the outcome of aggressive encounters,
including the potential to win a fight or prevent escalation resulting in physical injury. Among vertebrates, the
neural circuitry integrating sensation, for example what an individual hears, with modulation of aggressive
output, is distributed throughout the forebrain and conserved across vertebrate lineages. Social behavior is
thought to be an emergent property of activity across this network, and audition plays a prominent role in
modulating aggression in primates and birds. In mammals, although sensory integration within specific
forebrain regions is thought to strongly influence aggressive behavior, approaches to examining and
understanding this integration remain a challenge, in part because of the large size of mammalian brains and
limits on brain-wide optical access to the full network. To overcome this problem, we propose a new model,
Danionella dracula, a genetically tractable miniature species of fish that is transparent into adulthood, produces
robust sonic and visual (postural) signals solely in aggressive contexts, and a close relative of zebrafish (Danio
rerio), which are not sonic. Genetic toolkits developed in zebrafish are readily adapted in D. dracula. Our long-
term goal is to use this new model to test if an evolutionarily conserved forebrain network of neuronal
populations is activated during aggression, sensitive to acoustic signals, and, using optogenetic approaches,
can be manipulated at the cellular level to effect aggressive behavior. To reach this goal, we propose in Aim 1
to map a forebrain aggression network in D. dracula and use cutting-edge methods for brain-wide 2 and 3-
photon calcium imaging of auditory-responsive neurons to identify forebrain regions involved specifically in
acoustic-related aggression. Aim 2’s goal is to map projections and gain genetic access to a brain region
identified in Aim 1 for identifying connectivity and causal testing of a role for this region in aggression and on
activity across the aggression network. To this end, we will generate a transgenic line with GCaMP and
photoactivatable green fluorescent protein (paGFP), that will allow visualization of projections in functionally
characterized neurons, uncovering anatomical pathways between auditory neurons within aggression circuits.
Using a promoter characterized in zebrafish Gal4 lines we will create a transgenic D. dracula line expressing
an opsin in a population of excitatory neurons in an auditory-sensitive region and determine their connectivity
to other candidate brain areas involved in aggression. Completion of these aims will provide the necessary
transgenic lines and methods to establish D. dracula as a new vertebrate model for neural circuits of
aggression. The small size, transparency, and robust sonic-aggressive behaviors of this species’ adults, and
phylogenetic relationship to zebrafish will allow genetic and brai...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10524567
- **Project number:** 1R34NS128891-01
- **Recipient organization:** CORNELL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ANDREW H BASS
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $738,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10524567

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10524567, Acoustic modulation of forebrain aggression network in miniature, transparent vocal fish (1R34NS128891-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10524567. Licensed CC0.

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