Coordination and persistence of aggressive visual communication in Siamese fighting fish.

Outside acoustic communication, little is known about how animals coordinate social turn taking and how the brain drives engagement in these social interactions. Using Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), we discover dynamic visual features of an opponent and behavioral sequences that drive visually driven turn-taking aggressive behavior. Lesions of the telencephalon show that it is unnecessary for coordinating turn taking but is required for persistent participation in aggressive interactions.

Coordination and persistence of aggressive visual communication in Siamese fighting fish.

Animals coordinate their behavior with each other during both cooperative and agonistic social interactions. Such coordination often adopts the form of "turn taking", in which the interactive partners alternate the performance of a behavior. Apart from acoustic communication, how turn taking between animals is coordinated is not well understood.

Negligible uptake and transfer of diet-derived pollen microRNAs in adult honey bees.

The putative transfer and gene regulatory activities of diet-derived miRNAs in ingesting animals are still debated. Importantly, no study to date has fully examined the role of dietary uptake of miRNA in the honey bee, a critical pollinator in both agricultural and natural ecosystems. After controlled pollen feeding experiments in adult honey bees, we observed that midguts demonstrated robust increases in plant miRNAs after pollen ingestion.