Minireview
The study of songbirds has revealed a variety of fundamental properties of biological systems. In particular, neurobiological studies carried out in songbirds have revealed the presence of newly born neurons in the adult brain, how steroid hormones affect brain development, the neural and mechanistic bases of vocalizations, and how experience modifies neuronal physiology. More evidently, however, songbirds have been extensively used as a model for imitative vocal learning, a behavior thought to be a substrate for speech acquisition in humans .
Now an international consortium has unveiled the genome of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata, Figure 1), along with a multi-layered analysis of its sequence . Sequencing the zebra finch genome was initiated in 2005 under the Large Scale Genome Sequencing Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute , leveraging prior work in the research community characterizing the zebra finch brain transcriptome . These initiatives, along with new zebra finch genome sequences, have resulted in the complete genome sequenced with 17,475 protein-coding genes identified, as well as regulatory regions and non-coding RNAs. The annotation and sequence coverage of the zebra finch genome will certainly be refined in the years to come, but the initial endeavor is expected to provide a unique platform for modern genomics research in this organism. Furthermore, this initial snapshot of the songbird genome should provide critical insights into fundamental scientific questions, including an array of physiological and evolutionary processes. Here, I review some of the most exciting findings of this pioneering effort