The zebra finch neuropeptidome: prediction, detection and expression

Fang Xie, Sarah E London, Bruce R Southey, Suresh P Annangudi, Andinet Amare, Sandra L Rodriguez-Zas, David F Clayton, Jonathan V Sweedler

Among songbirds, the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is an excellent model system for investigating the neural mechanisms underlying complex behaviours such as vocal communication, learning and social interactions. Neuropeptides and peptide hormones are cell-to-cell signalling molecules known to mediate similar behaviours in other animals. However, in the zebra finch, this information is limited. With the newly-released zebra finch genome as a foundation, we combined bioinformatics, mass-spectrometry (MS)-enabled peptidomics and molecular techniques to identify the complete suite of neuropeptide prohormones and final peptide products and their distributions.