Representation and Modulation of Social Information in the Ant Chemosensory System

蚂蚁化学感应系统中社会信息的表示和调制

• 批准号: 10676814
• 负责人: Daniel Kronauer
• 金额: $ 49.28万
• 依托单位: ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10676814
• 关键词: Address; Afferent Neurons; Age; Animals; Ants; Area; Attention; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Model; Biological; Biological Models; Biology; Brain; Chemicals; Clinical; Communication; Communities; Complex; Cues; Data; Development; Disease; Drosophila genus; Dyes; Electrophysiology (science); Ethology; Foundations; Future; Genetic; Head; Human; Image; Individual; Individual Differences; Individuality; Insecta; Invertebrates; Investigation; Label; Laboratories; Lobe; Maps; Microscope; Modeling; Modernization; Mus; Nervous System; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Neurosciences; Odorant Receptors; Odors; Perception; Phenotype; Pheromone; Population; Proteins; Protocols documentation; Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Role; SLC25A4 gene; Schizophrenia; Sensory; Social Behavior; Societies; Specificity; Stimulus; System; Theoretical model; Transgenic Organisms; Variant; Work; asexual; autism spectrum disorder; behavioral outcome; behavioral plasticity; behavioral response; behavioral study; brain circuitry; calcium indicator; experimental study; fascinate; insight; neural; neural correlate; neurogenetics; neuroimaging; olfactory bulb; olfactory sensory neurons; predicting response; prevent; programs; promoter; receptor; response; self organization; sensory system; single-cell RNA sequencing; social; tool; two photon microscopy; two-photon

PROJECT SUMMARY Social insects show robust and complex behaviors, and have served as important study systems in ethology for decades. However, because they are not genetically tractable, researchers have not been able to study these behaviors at the level of brain circuitry with cutting-edge neurogenetic tools. The proposed work will pioneer such tools in the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi, a species that uniquely combines experimental amenability with the fascinating behavior of social insects. It will then address an important biological question: how does variation in neural responsiveness give rise to consistent differences in how individuals respond to social and environmental stimuli? O. biroi is particularly suitable to study this question for a number of reasons. First, the ants reproduce asexually and clonally, implying that behavioral differences arise from phenotypic plasticity, rather than genetic differences. Second, unlike in conventional model systems like Drosophila or mice, differences in behavioral propensities are adaptive because they give rise to stable division of labor in a colony context. Accordingly, these differences are robust and predictable, and they have received a lot of theoretical and empirical attention at the behavioral level. Given that ants communicate almost exclusively via pheromones, we will focus on the antennal lobe, the primary processing area of chemosensory information in the insect brain, analogous to the mammalian olfactory bulb. In Aim 1, we will generate transgenic lines expressing the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP in the antennal lobe to enable live imaging of neural activity with two-photon microscopy. We will also generate lines expressing the photoactivatable fluorescent protein CaMPARI2, enabling stable labeling of neurons active in freely behaving animals. In Aim 2, we will use these tools to create a functionally annotated map of chemosensory representation in the ant antennal lobe. We will also use single-cell RNA-sequencing of labelled neurons to identify odorant receptors responding to pheromones. We will then use the promoters of these receptors to generate additional, narrowly targeted transgenic lines. In Aim 3, we will study how differences in neural representation and sensitivity correlate with plastic differences in behavioral responses to identical social stimuli. Based on these data, we will build a predictive theoretical model of division of labor in insect societies. On a fundamental level, our results on the modulation of sensory perception will also inform our understanding of human disorders involving abnormal sensory sensitivity, such as autism and schizophrenia. Finally, we will make the tools and protocols developed under this proposal available to the scientific community, greatly advancing the field of social insect neuroscience and opening up a vast new experimental space. The robust and expansive behavioral repertoire of social insects combined with the simplicity of a compact invertebrate nervous system allows O. biroi to fill an important niche in neuroscience.

项目摘要 社交昆虫表现出强大而复杂的行为，并充当了伦理学的重要研究系统 几十年来。但是，由于它们在遗传上不可触犯，因此研究人员无法研究 这些行为在脑电路水平上使用尖端的神经遗传学工具。拟议的工作将 在克隆攻略ant oceraea biroi中的先驱工具，该物种唯一结合了实验性 与社会昆虫的迷人行为相提并论。然后，它将解决一个重要的生物学问题： 神经反应性的变化如何导致个人如何反应的差异 社会和环境刺激？ O. biroi特别适合研究此问题的原因有很多。 首先，蚂蚁无性繁殖和克隆繁殖，这意味着行为差异是由表型引起的 可塑性，而不是遗传差异。第二，与果蝇或果蝇等传统模型系统不同 小鼠，行为倾向的差异是适应性的，因为它们在某人中产生了稳定的分工 殖民地背景。因此，这些差异是牢固且可预测的，它们已经收到了很多 在行为层面上的理论和经验关注。鉴于蚂蚁几乎完全通过 信息素，我们将重点关注触角叶，这是化学感应信息的主要处理区域 昆虫大脑，类似于哺乳动物嗅球。在AIM 1中，我们将生成转基因线 表达触角叶中遗传编码的钙指示剂GCAMP，以实现实时成像 具有两光子显微镜的神经活动。我们还将生成表达光活化的线 荧光蛋白campari2，可以在自由表现的动物中稳定地标记神经元。在AIM 2中， 我们将使用这些工具在蚂蚁中创建功能注释的化学感应表示图 触角叶。我们还将使用标记神经元的单细胞RNA测序来识别气味受体 回应信息素。然后，我们将使用这些受体的启动子来产生其他 目标转基因线。在AIM 3中，我们将研究神经表示和灵敏度的差异 与相同社会刺激的行为反应中的塑性差异相关。基于这些数据，我们 将建立昆虫社会劳动分工的预测理论模型。从根本上，我们的 关于感官感知的调节的结果也将为我们对人类疾病的理解提供信息 涉及异常的感觉敏感性，例如自闭症和精神分裂症。最后，我们将制造工具和 根据该提案开发的协议，可用于科学界，大大推动了 社交昆虫神经科学并开辟了一个巨大的新实验空间。强大而膨胀 社交昆虫的行为曲目结合了紧凑的无脊椎动物神经系统的简单性 允许O. biroi填补神经科学的重要利基市场。