Bendesky, Andrés
Associate Professor of E3B in the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute
There are profound differences in behavior among individuals of a species and across species. Much effort has been devoted to the observation and theory of behavioral variation, but the molecular, genetic, and neurobiological mechanisms that generate and maintain such diversity are largely unknown. My lab studies the mechanisms of behavioral variation from genetic and neurobiological angles – by identifying specific genes involved and how they impact the brain, and by characterizing functional variation in neuronal circuits. We then analyze the common themes that emerge to describe the evolution of behavior. Our work focuses mainly on Peromyscus mice and Siamese fighting ‘betta’ fish. In addition to our work on behavior, we work on selected projects on broader aspects of evolutionary genetics and on select evo-devo questions in these and other models.
Research Keywords: Evolutionary Genetics; Evolution; Speciation Animal Behavior; Neurobiology; Peromyscus; Siamese Fighting Fish
Everett C, Norovich AL, Burke JE, Whiteway M, Villamayor PR, Shih P-Y, Zhu Y, Paninski L, Bendesky A. Coordination and persistence of aggressive visual communication in Siamese fighting fish. Cell Reports. 2024; Accepted in principle. Preprint in bioRxiv.
Media coverage: Luke Groskin. What puts the fight in fighting fish? Science. Oct 15, 2024.
Niepoth Nº, Merritt JRº, Uminski M, Lei E, Esquibies, VS, Bando, IB, Hernandez K, Gebhardt C, Wacker SA, Lutzu S, Poudel A, Soma KK, Rudolph S, Bendesky A. Evolution of a novel adrenal cell type that promotes parental care. Nature. 2024;629:1082-1090.
News and Views: Tollkuhn J. Parental-care puzzle in mice solved by thinking outside the brain. Nature 2024;629:1006-1008.
Media coverage: Mark Johnson. Some mice have a cheating heart. It’s a hormonal thing, scientists find. Washington Post. May 16, 2024.
Judith de Jorge. Hallan un nuevo tipo de célula que promueve el cuidado parental. ABC Madrid. May 15, 2024.
Elena Spivack. What Makes Some Mice Such Good Parents? This Newly Discovered Cell, Maybe. Inverse. May 15, 2024.
Kautt AF, Chen J, Lewarch CL, Hu C, Turner K, Lassance JM, Baier F, Bedford NL, Bendesky A, Hoekstra HE. Evolution of gene expression across brain regions in behaviorally divergent deer mice and their hybrids. Molecular Ecology 2023; doi: 10.1111/mec.17270.
Bendesky A, Brew J, Francis KX, Tello Corbetto EF, González Ariza A, Nogales Baena S, Shimmura T. The main genetic locus associated with the evolution of gamecocks is centered on ISPD. G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics 2023;jkad267.
Media coverage: Miriam Bergeret. Scientists pinpoint the “fight” in fighting chickens. Genes to Genomes. April 4, 2024.
Palmiotti Aº, Lichak MRº, Shih P-Y, Kwon YM, Bendesky A. Genetic manipulation of betta fish. Frontiers in Genome Editing 2023;5:1167093.
Nadjsombati MS, Niepoth N, Webeck LM, Kennedy EA, Kones DL, Billipp TE, Baldridge MT, Bendesky A, von Moltke J. Genetic mapping reveals Pou2af2/OCA-TI-dependent tuning of tuft cell differentiation and intestinal type 2 immunity. Science Immunology 2023;8:eade5019.
Khadraoui M, Merritt J, Hoekstra HE, Bendesky A. Post-mating parental behavior trajectories differ across four species of deer mice. PLoS ONE 2022;17:e0276052.
Runge JN, König B, Lindholm AK, Bendesky A*. Parent-offspring inference in inbred populations. Molecular Ecology Resources. 2022; doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.13680.
Lichak M, Barber J, Kwon YM, Bendesky A. Care and use of Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) for research. Comparative Medicine. 2022;72:169-180.
Kwon YM, Vranken N, Hoge C, Lichak MR, Norovich AL, Francis KX, Camacho-Garcia J, Bista I, Wood J, McCarthy S, Chow W, Tan HH, Howe K, Bandara S, von Lintig J, Rüber L, Durbin R, Svardal H, Bendesky A. Genomic consequences of domestication of the Siamese fighting fish. Science Advances 2022;8:eabm4950.
Media coverage: Annie Roth. The 1,000-year secret that made betta fish beautiful. New York Times (front page). May 14, 2021.
Sarah Zhang. The surprise hiding in the DNA of pet fish. The Atlantic. May 14, 2021
Christie Wilcox. My Daughter’s First Pet—the Next Big Model Organism? The Scientist. Jul 15, 2021
Ng D, Pinharanda A, Vogt MC… Bendesky A. WHotLAMP: A simple, inexpensive, and sensitive molecular test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in saliva. PLoS ONE 2021;16:e0257464.
Niepoth N, Bendesky A. How natural genetic variation shapes behavior. Annual Reviews of Genomics and Human Genetics. 2020;21:437-463.
Bendesky A, Kwon, YM, Lassance JM, Lewarch CL, Yao S, Peterson BK, He MX, Dulac C, Hoekstra HE. The genetic basis of parental care evolution in monogamous mice. Nature. 2017;544:434-439.
News and Views: Phelps SM. Animal behaviour: How to build a better dad. Nature. 2017;544:418–419.
Hager R. The genes that make a good parent. Trends in Genetics. 2017;33:492-94.
Editorials: Matheson S. Sorting out complex thoughts and messy emotions. Cell. 2017;169:1157.
Media coverage: Carl Zimmer. Why are some mice (and people) monogamous? A study points to genes. New York Times (front page). April 19, 2017.
Andrea Marks. The mouse parent trap. Scientific American. July 2017.
Bendesky A, Tsunozaki M, Rockman MV, Kruglyak L, and Bargmann CI. Catecholamine receptor polymorphisms affect decision-making in C. elegans. Nature. 2011;472:313-318.
For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov
