I interrogate the molecular mechanisms responsible for social behavior. I use many -omics techniques to address this aim. As a model social behaviour, I use the elaborate and extended parental care of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides as my main study behavior and species.
Photo Credit: Allen J. Moore
Molecular Mechanisms of Social Behaviour
Christopher B. Cunningham
Lecturer (Tenure-Track Assistant Professor) of Behavioural Genetics and Social Neuroscience
Publications
CB Cunningham, L Ji, EC McKinney, KM Benowitz, RJ Schmitz, AJ Moore
(2019).
Changes of gene expression but not cytosine methylation are associated with male parental care reflecting behavioural state, social context, and individual flexibility.
Journal of Experimental Biology 222, jeb.188649.
KM Benowitz, EC McKinney, CB Cunningham, EC McKinney, AJ Moore
(2019).
Predictable gene expression related to behavioral variation in parenting.
Behavioral Ecology 30, 402-407.
CB Cunningham, MB Badgett, RB Meagher, R Orlando, AJ Moore
(2017).
Ethological principles predict the neuropeptides co-opted to influence parenting.
Nature Communications 8, 14225.
KM Benowitz, EC McKinney, CB Cunningham, EC McKinney, AJ Moore
(2017).
Relating quantitative variation within a behavior to variation in transcription.
Evolution 71, 1999-2009.
CB Cunningham, K VanDenHeuvel, D Khana, EC McKinney, AJ Moore
(2016).
The role of neuropeptide F in a transition to parental care.
Biology Letters 12, 20160158.
CB Cunningham, L Ji, RAW Wiberg, J Shelton, EC McKinney, DJ Parker, RB Meagher, KM Benowitz, EM Roy-Zokan, MG Ritchie, SJ Brown, RJ Schmitz, AJ Moore
(2015).
The Genome and Methylome of a Beetle with Complex Social Behavior, Nicrophorus vespilloides (Coleoptera: Silphidae).
Genome Biology & Evolution 7, 3383-3396.
EM Roy-Zokan, CB Cunningham, LE Hebb, EC McKinney, AJ Moore
(2015).
Vitellogenin and vitellogenin receptor gene expression is associated with male and female parenting in a subsocial insect.
Proc. R. Soc. B 282, 20150787.
DJ Parker, CB Cunningham, CA Walling, Stamper CE, Head ML, Roy-Zokan E, EC McKinney, Ritchie MG, AJ Moore
(2015).
Transcriptomes of parents help identify parenting strategies and sexual conflict in a subsocial beetle.
Nature Communication 6, 8449.
CB Cunningham, MK Douthit, AJ Moore
(2014).
Octopaminergic gene expression and flexible social behaviour in the subsocial burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides.
Insect Molecular Biology 23, 391-404.