Three’s a Crowd: The Impact of the Morphogen SHH on Influencing Genetic Monogamy in Convict Cichlids

Monogamy can be surmised as the practice of having a pair bond formation between two adults of the same species. The overarching method we shall approach for this will be by examining the effects of the morphogen Sonic Hedgehog (SHH), of the Hedgehog signaling pathway. The SHH gene codes for the sonic hedgehog protein which is essential for the patterning of the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus helps in the production and secretion of two hormones known to enforce monogamous behaviors in animal—Oxytocin and Vasopressin. Since it is known that direct SHH signaling correlates with development of the hypothalamus we believe that monogamous species contain increased levels of SHH signaling as opposed to non-monogamous species due to additional levels of the Shh signaling receptor Ptch1. Experimentation will consist of comparison of in-situ hybridization of the monogamous fish species Convict Cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofascia), and a conventional non-monogamous fish species Zebrafish (Danio Rerio.) Accompanied by increased SHH signaling, we predict that the concentration of SHH/ptch1 receptors in the monogamous fish species will be greater than that in a non-monogamous fish species. This would hold the ability to potentially affect the behavior of the fish species to prefer engaging in monogamous behavior.