The Molecular Underpinnings of Complex Social Behavior

复杂社会行为的分子基础

• 批准号: 9754186
• 负责人: Daniel Kronauer
• 金额: $ 42.38万
• 依托单位: ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9754186
• 关键词: Affect; Ants; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Assay; Behavioral Genetics; Biogenic Amines; Biological; Biological Models; Biology; Brain; CRISPR/Cas technology; Chemicals; Communication; Complex; Computer Vision Systems; Cues; DNA; DNA Methylation; Defect; Development; Disease; Environment; Epigenetic Process; Facial Expression; Genetic; Genetic study; Histones; Human; Impairment; Individuality; Insecta; Language; Light; Lobe; Mammals; Maps; Measures; Mental Depression; Modeling; Molecular; Monitor; Mood Disorders; Neurobiology; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Neuromodulator; Neuropeptides; Organism; Performance; Pharmacology; Process; Research; Resources; Rodent; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Social Interaction; Societies; System; Transgenic Organisms; Work; autism spectrum disorder; communication behavior; fly; innovation; insight; knockout gene; neurobiological mechanism; novel; social; social cognition; social group; tool

Humans are highly social. Our brains have evolved to recognize and interpret the expression of faces and to produce and process language. Our behavior is modulated by our social interactions, and defects in social cognition manifest themselves in various disorders, including depression and autism. However, it has remained challenging to model these conditions in classic genetic systems such as rodents and flies because they only display basic social behaviors. Social insects such as ants, on the other hand, have evolved sophisticated societies and social behaviors, including nestmate recognition and complex communication via chemical cues. Their behavior is contingent on the social environment, giving rise to cooperation and division of labor. We study ants to understand the basic genetic and neurobiological mechanisms underlying these phenomena. Because most of the molecules that modulate social behavior, such as neuropeptides, biogenic amines, and epigenetic marks on DNA and histones are conserved from insects to mammals, many of the insights gained from ants will also be applicable to humans. Over the past five years we have developed tools for the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi, a species that combines complex social insect biology with unprecedented experimental control. We can now monitor social behavior using computer vision, measure, map, and pharmacologically manipulate candidate neuromodulators in the ant brain, and create stable gene knockout and transgenic lines using CRISPR technology. We will study the development, organization and activity of the ant antennal lobe, the part of the brain that processes the ants' sophisticated chemical language. We will also conduct a large unbiased screen to identify candidate neuromodulators that affect social behavior. We will then manipulate these candidates pharmacologically and genetically to describe their function in more detail. We will also genetically disrupt DNA methylation, a common epigenetic mark implicated in behavioral individuality and plasticity. Finally, we will study how communication and social behavior affect the performance of social groups in dynamic and challenging external environments. This work will elucidate how, on a molecular level, the brains of social partners interact. This work is innovative because it uses a novel and uniquely suited study species to take a complementary approach to important biological questions of biomedical relevance. It will produce additional tools and resources to further establish the clonal raider ant as a model system for behavioral genetics, and it will shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying social behavior, which can then be studied further in other species including humans.

人类是高度社交的。我们的大脑已经发展为识别和解释的表达 面孔并制作和处理语言。我们的行为受到社会的调节 互动和社会认知缺陷表现出各种疾病，包括 抑郁和自闭症。但是，建模这些条件在 经典的遗传系统，例如啮齿动物和苍蝇，因为它们仅显示基本的社交 行为。另一方面，社交昆虫（例如蚂蚁）已经发展了成熟的社会 和社会行为，包括巢穴的识别和通过化学的复杂交流 提示。他们的行为取决于社会环境，引起合作和 劳工司。我们研究蚂蚁以了解基本的遗传和神经生物学 这些现象的基础机制。因为调节社会的大多数分子 DNA和组蛋白上的神经肽，生物胺和表观遗传标记等行为 从昆虫到哺乳动物是保守的，从蚂蚁那里获得的许多见解也将是 适用于人类。在过去的五年中 Ooceraea biroi，将复杂的社会昆虫生物学与前所未有的物种结合在一起 实验控制。现在，我们可以使用计算机视觉，测量， 地图和药理操纵蚂蚁大脑中的候选神经调节剂，并创建 使用CRISPR技术稳定的基因敲除和转基因线。我们将研究 蚂蚁触角叶的发展，组织和活动，大脑的一部分 处理蚂蚁精致的化学语言。我们还将进行大型公正 筛选识别影响社会行为的候选神经调节剂。然后我们会 在药理学和遗传上操纵这些候选者，以描述其功能 更多细节。我们还将在遗传上破坏DNA甲基化，这是一种常见的表观遗传标记 与行为个性和可塑性有关。最后，我们将研究如何交流 社会行为影响社会群体在动态和挑战的外部的表现 环境。这项工作将阐明如何在分子层面上，社会伙伴的大脑 相互影响。这项工作具有创新性，因为它使用一种新颖且独特的研究物种来 采用一种互补的方法来解决生物医学相关性的重要生物学问题。会 生产其他工具和资源，以进一步建立克隆攻略蚂蚁作为模型 行为遗传学系统，它将阐明分子机制 社会行为，然后可以在包括人类在内的其他物种中进一步研究。