Behavioural Genomics : An Organismic Perspective

The behavioural patterns observed in many organisms generally resultfromthe integration ofbothexternaland internal cues. Why do animals behave the way they do? The study of the proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying animal behaviour tries to answer this ques- tion. Although various approaches have been developed for examining – often quantitatively and with increasing specificity and resolution – the roles genes play in the regulation of behaviour, until recently they were limited to individual candidate genes and often neglected ultim- ate mechanisms. Advances in genomic approaches in recent years have made it possible to examine gene expression patterns (in the brain and elsewhere) on a genomicscale even in nontraditional, yet ecologicallyand evolutionarily important model systems. As behavioural genomics begins to integrate proximate and ultimate mechanisms of animal behaviour, we may finally under- stand why animals behave the way they do.