# Neuronal mechanisms of visually-driven aggressive behavior

> **NIH NIH R34** · COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE · 2020 · $720,212

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Aggression is a fundamental social behavior. Though widespread, the stimuli that modulate aggression
differ between species. Primates rely strongly on visual cues, while in rodents and insects olfactory stimuli are
essential. Since mice and flies are the leading models of modern aggression studies, the mechanisms by
which visual neural circuits modulate aggression remain largely unknown. Recent advances in genome
sequencing, transgenic and viral technologies allow the application of genetically-encoded tools for tracing,
monitoring and manipulating neural circuits to a wide variety of species. Here, we propose to develop an
innovative model to uncover the circuitry underlying visually-evoked aggression. We will develop advanced
tools and experimental setups to study the neuronal circuits and computations involved in visually-triggered
aggression in Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Betta have been selectively bred to be highly aggressive
for hundreds of generations. They now have a fast, robust, and stereotyped aggression display in response to
seeing another fish, and therefore present an ideal model for the proposed studies.
 We will first test whether visually-evoked aggression engages specific nodes in a circuit that receives
visual input (Aim 1). We will identify these nodes in order to target them for analyses of neuronal activity. This
will be achieved in a three step process. First we will anatomically trace vision-aggression circuits using
anterograde tracers from the retina and retrograde tracers from the muscles used exclusively during
aggression displays. We will then identify salient features of aggression-triggering visual cues, to develop
visual stimuli that robustly elicit aggression and other stimuli that merely elicit visual attention but no
aggression. Lastly, we will identify neurons active during aggression (using an antibody against pS6, a marker
of neuronal activity) but not when fish see a control movie that elicits attention but not aggression. Together,
this will enable us to identify the nodes involved in visually-evoked aggression, so we can target them for
analyses of neuronal activity.
 We will then develop transgenic Betta to express genetically encoded calcium indicators in the brain to
measure how visual stimuli that trigger aggression are represented and processed (Aim 2). Lastly, we will
develop a head-fixed preparation to record neuronal activity in behaving fish, focusing first in the fish homolog
of the mammalian amygdala (Aim 3). This large scale and cellular-level resolution approach will allow us to
study the computations involved in the perception and discrimination of visual stimuli with varying aggression-
inducing levels and to generate models that relate neuronal activity to behavioral output.
 The model developed in this application will present a unique and powerful platform to elucidate the
neural circuitry underlying visually-evoked aggression, a project which we aspire to ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978478
- **Project number:** 1R34NS116734-01
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIV NEW YORK MORNINGSIDE
- **Principal Investigator:** Andres Bendesky
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $720,212
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-15 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978478

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978478, Neuronal mechanisms of visually-driven aggressive behavior (1R34NS116734-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978478. Licensed CC0.

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