Mutations in many genes affect aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.
Mutations in many genes affect aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.
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DOI：
10.1186/1741-7007-7-29
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发表时间：
2009-06-11
期刊：
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Mackay TF
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Edwards AC;Zwarts L;Yamamoto A;Callaerts P;Mackay TF
动物的攻击性行为对生存和繁殖很重要。识别影响攻击行为的潜在基因和环境背景，对于了解维持自然人群攻击行为变异的进化力量，以及开发治疗干预措施以调节人类极端水平的攻击行为，具有重要意义。虽然神经递质和其他一些分子在调节和调节攻击性水平方面的作用已经得到了很好的证实，但很可能还有许多其他的遗传途径仍未被发现。近年来，黑腹果蝇被认为是研究攻击行为遗传基础的良好模式生物。在这里，我们展示了对170个果蝇P元素插入突变的筛查结果，以从它们的同基因对照品系中寻找攻击行为的定量差异。我们在57个影响攻击性行为的基因中发现了59个突变，其中没有一个以前被认为与攻击性有关。其中32个突变体表现出更强的攻击性，而27个品系表现出比对照更弱的攻击性。许多基因影响神经系统的发育和功能，因此似乎与复杂行为的执行有关。其他的影响基本的细胞和新陈代谢过程，或者是计算机预测的基因突变，攻击性行为是第一个生物注释。大多数突变对其他复杂性状有多效性影响。我们通过评估整个发育过程中的转录水平，蘑菇体的形态变化，以及恢复突变等位基因中攻击的控制水平，更详细地表征了其中9个突变。所有P元件的插入都会影响标记基因，并对脑形态产生多效性影响。这项研究表明，影响攻击性行为的基因比之前怀疑的要多得多，而且这些基因具有广泛的多效性。鉴于不同动物物种之间攻击性行为的保守性，这些基因是未来在包括人类在内的其他动物身上进行研究的新候选基因。
Aggressive behavior in animals is important for survival and reproduction. Identifying the underlying genes and environmental contexts that affect aggressive behavior is important for understanding the evolutionary forces that maintain variation for aggressive behavior in natural populations, and to develop therapeutic interventions to modulate extreme levels of aggressive behavior in humans. While the role of neurotransmitters and a few other molecules in mediating and modulating levels of aggression is well established, it is likely that many additional genetic pathways remain undiscovered. Drosophila melanogaster has recently been established as an excellent model organism for studying the genetic basis of aggressive behavior. Here, we present the results of a screen of 170 Drosophila P-element insertional mutations for quantitative differences in aggressive behavior from their co-isogenic control line. We identified 59 mutations in 57 genes that affect aggressive behavior, none of which had been previously implicated to affect aggression. Thirty-two of these mutants exhibited increased aggression, while 27 lines were less aggressive than the control. Many of the genes affect the development and function of the nervous system, and are thus plausibly relevant to the execution of complex behaviors. Others affect basic cellular and metabolic processes, or are mutations in computationally predicted genes for which aggressive behavior is the first biological annotation. Most of the mutations had pleiotropic effects on other complex traits. We characterized nine of these mutations in greater detail by assessing transcript levels throughout development, morphological changes in the mushroom bodies, and restoration of control levels of aggression in revertant alleles. All of the P-element insertions affected the tagged genes, and had pleiotropic effects on brain morphology. This study reveals that many more genes than previously suspected affect aggressive behavior, and that these genes have widespread pleiotropic effects. Given the conservation of aggressive behavior among different animal species, these are novel candidate genes for future study in other animals, including humans.