A Unique Natural Model for Studying the Mechanisms Underlying Social Behavior

研究社会行为背后机制的独特自然模型

• 批准号: 7889278
• 负责人: DONNA L MANEY
• 金额: $ 38.75万
• 依托单位: EMORY UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-04-15 至 2014-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7889278
• 关键词: Adult; Affect; Aggressive behavior; Amino Acid Sequence; Amygdaloid structure; Animal Model; Animals; Behavior; Behavioral; Biological; Birds; Brain; Brain region; Caring; Chromosomal Rearrangement; Chromosome inversion; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2; Code; Collaborations; Color; DNA Sequence Rearrangement; Data; Dental crowns; Development; Enzymes; Estrogen Receptor alpha; Estrogen Receptors; Exhibits; Female; Foundations; Future; Gene Expression; Genes; Genetic; Genetic Drift; Genetic Polymorphism; Genetic Recombination; Goals; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Habitats; Health; Heterozygote; Hormonal; Hormones; Housing; Human; Hypothalamic structure; In Situ Hybridization; Individual; Laboratories; Lateral; Life; Link; Maps; Modeling; Molecular; Molecular Biology; Molecular Profiling; Mus; Neuroendocrinology; Neuropeptides; Neurosecretory Systems; North America; Parenting behavior; Parents; Partner in relationship; Pathway interactions; Peptide Sequence Determination; Pericentric Inversion; Phenotype; Physiological; Play; Population; Process; Proteins; RNA Splicing; Regulation; Relative (related person); Reproduction; Reproductive Behavior; Research Personnel; Risk-Taking; Role; Sequence Analysis; Sex Chromosomes; Sex Differentiation; Social Behavior; Songbirds; Sparrows; Staging; Steroid Receptors; Structure; Structure of terminal stria nuclei of preoptic region; Study models; System; Time; Transcript; Vertebrates; Work; autosome; base; improved; interdisciplinary collaboration; interest; male; nuclear receptor coactivator 1; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; serotonin 5 receptor; serotonin receptor; sex; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social behaviors that impact human health, including risk-taking, aggression, and parental care, have a neuroendocrine basis that is both biologically based and well conserved across vertebrates. Animal models, particularly those in which definitive neuroendocrine and genetic links to social behavior have been described, are therefore valuable systems in which to study the hormones and genes that influence human social behavior. Ideally, such models would be easily studied in their natural habitats, reasonably similar to humans in their social behavior, genetically tractable, and inexpensive to work with. We have been studying the neuroendocrine and genetic bases of social behavior in an exceptionally promising model, the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). This songbird, which is native to North America, has generated a great deal of interest among behavioral biologists because of a plumage polymorphism that predicts many aspects of an individual's social behavior. Dozens of behavioral studies conducted in the animals' natural habitat have established that individuals with a white-stripe (WS) on the crown are more competitive and aggressive, and birds with a tan stripe (TS) engage in more parental care. The color polymorphism is associated with a structural rearrangement on chromosome 2; all of the WS individuals have a copy of the rearranged chromosome (2m), whereas those of the TS morph are homozygous for the wild-type chromosome. We are currently mapping the 2m chromosome and have identified a set of promising neuroendocrine genes that are located within the rearrangement and may therefore contribute toward the behavioral phenotype and thus to risk-taking, aggression, and parenting. These genes, which include a gonadal steroid receptor, a steroidogenic enzyme, and a serotonin receptor subtype, are already suspected to play a role in social behavior in vertebrates, including humans. Here, we propose to evaluate these genes by identifying those (1) whose expression mirrors the behavioral polymorphism; (2) that may have organizational effects on the development of polymorphic behavior; and (3) that have been directly altered by the chromosomal arrangement in ways that may alter gene expression or function. Overall, the white-throated sparrow represents a unique and valuable opportunity for studies of the biological bases of social behavior because the behavioral differences between the morphs are already well-documented in free-living and laboratory populations, and the chromosomal inversion has been definitively linked to the behavioral polymorphism. Because the genes and pathways that regulate social behavior are conserved across species, the results of these studies will be applicable to understanding the mechanisms underlying aggressive and parental behavior in humans. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Social behaviors that impact human health, including competitive aggression and parental care, are in part influenced by hormones and gene expression. Here, we will study these influences in an animal model with a natural polymorphism that provides a unique opportunity to characterize the processes underlying aggression and parenting.

描述（由申请人提供）：影响人类健康的社会行为，包括冒险，侵略和父母护理，具有神经内分泌的基础，既基于生物学，又是脊椎动物的良好保守。因此，动物模型，特别是那些描述了确定性神经内分泌和与社会行为的遗传联系的动物模型，因此是研究影响人类社会行为的激素和基因的宝贵系统。理想情况下，这种模型将在其自然栖息地中很容易研究，与人类在社会行为中相似，具有遗传性且可使用的便宜。我们一直在研究一个异常有希望的模型，白喉的麻雀（albicollis Zonotrichia）中，研究了社会行为的神经内分泌和遗传基础。这鸟原产于北美，由于羽毛多态性预测了个人社会行为的许多方面，因此行为生物学家引起了极大的兴趣。在动物的自然栖息地进行的数十个行为研究已经确定，皇冠上有白条纹（WS）的个体更具竞争力和侵略性，而有棕褐色条纹（TS）的鸟类则进行了更多的父母护理。颜色多态性与染色体2上的结构重排有关。所有的WS个体都有重新排列的染色体（2M）的副本，而TS变形的染色体则是野生型染色体的纯合子。我们目前正在绘制2M染色体，并确定了一组有希望的神经内分泌基因，这些神经内分泌基因位于重排内，因此可能有助于行为表型，从而有助于冒险，侵略和育儿。这些基因包括性腺类固醇受体，类固醇生成酶和5-羟色胺受体亚型，已经被怀疑在包括人类在内的脊椎动物中在社会行为中起作用。在这里，我们建议通过识别那些表达反映行为多态性的（1）来评估这些基因。 （2）可能对多态性行为发展具有组织影响； （3）染色体排列以可能改变基因表达或功能的方式直接改变。总体而言，白喉的麻雀代表了研究社会行为生物学基础的独特而宝贵的机会，因为在自由生活和实验室人群中，形态之间的行为差​​异已经有充分的文献，并且染色体反转已与行为多态性相关。因为调节社会行为的基因和途径在各种物种之间都是保守的，所以这些研究的结果将适用于理解人类侵略性和父母行为的机制。 公共卫生相关性：影响人类健康的社会行为，包括竞争侵略和父母护理，部分受激素和基因表达的影响。在这里，我们将在具有自然多态性的动物模型中研究这些影响，该模型提供了一个独特的机会来表征侵略和育儿的过程。