10.5061/DRYAD.BK3J9KD78
Konarzewski, Marek
0000-0001-7428-6521
University of Białystok
Goncerzewicz, Anna
Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego
Górkiewicz, Tomasz
Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego
Dzik, Jakub M.
Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego
Knapska, Ewelina
Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego
Brain size, gut size and cognitive abilities: the energy trade-offs tested
in artificial selection experiment
Dryad
dataset
2020
National Research Center*
NCN 2015/17/B/NZ8/02484
2022-01-20T00:00:00Z
2022-01-20T00:00:00Z
en
103893 bytes
5
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The enlarged brains of homeotherms bring behavioural advantages, but also
incur high energy expenditures. The ‘Expensive Brain’ (EB) hypothesis
posits that the energetic costs of the enlarged brain and the resulting
increased cognitive abilities (CA) were met either by increased energy
turnover or reduced allocation to other expensive organs, such as the gut.
We tested the EB hypothesis by analyzing correlated responses to selection
in an experimental evolution model system, which comprises line types of
laboratory mice selected for high or low basal (BMR), or high maximum
(VO2max) metabolic rates. The traits are implicated in the evolution of
homeothermy, having been pre-requisites for the encephalisation and
exceptional CA of mammals, including humans. High-BMR mice had bigger
guts, but not brains, than mice of other line types. Yet, they were
superior to the other line types in the cognitive tasks carried out in
both reward and avoidance learning contexts. Furthermore, the high-BMR
mice had higher neuronal plasticity (indexed as the long-term
potentiation, LTP) than their counterparts. Our data indicate that the
evolutionary increase of CA in mammals was initially associated with
increased BMR and brain plasticity. It was also fueled by an enlarged gut,
which was not traded off for brain size.
All information on data collection and processing is provided in the
manuscript and Supplementary Materials.
Goncerzewicz_et_al_data.xls File contains raw data on individual
measurements of Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), body and internal organ masses
(including brain), assessments of locomotor activity and reward-motivated
discrimination learning along with data long-term potentiation (LTP), a
classical model for investigation of activity-dependent synaptic
plasticity. Detailed description of all measured variables is provided in
Spreadsheet legend.