Role of Orphan Nuclear Hormone Receptors in the Adult Honey Bee Brain

由于蜜蜂与人类的长期联系，无论是在野外还是在实验室，蜜蜂丰富的行为特征都得到了很好的描述。拟议中的细胞和分子水平研究将利用蜜蜂行为和大脑结构中自然发生的变化来解决神经科学中的一个关键问题：我们的经历如何改变我们的大脑？当蜜蜂采食花粉和花蜜时，它们大脑中负责学习和记忆的区域会变大。核激素受体家族的蜜蜂形式与脊椎动物的类固醇激素受体结构相似，通过搜索已知在蜜蜂大脑中表达的基因数据库来确定。其中一些受体被发现在调节蜜蜂学习和记忆的神经细胞中表达，这些细胞因觅食经历而生长。由于雌激素等类固醇激素是脊椎动物大脑结构的重要调节因子，因此假设蜜蜂核激素受体在蜜蜂大脑中具有类似的功能。为了研究核激素受体在经验诱导的大脑发育中的作用，将来自不同觅食经验的蜜蜂的神经细胞置于培养中。在不同的激素和核受体表达组合下，将研究这些培养细胞中称为树突的神经元过程的生长。参与这项研究计划的研究生也将为本科生开发一个基于计算机的研讨会，该研讨会将使用蜜蜂基因组作为DNA序列分析方法的教学工具。

Because of its long association with humans, the honeybee's rich behavioral repertoire is well-characterized, both in the field and in the laboratory. The proposed cell and molecular level studies will use naturally occurring changes in bee behavior and brain structure to address a key question in neuroscience: How do our experiences alter our brains? When honeybees forage at flowers for pollen and nectar, the region of their brains involved in learning and memory becomes larger. The honey bee forms of a family of nuclear hormone receptors that have structures similar to the steroid hormone receptors of vertebrates were identified by searching a database of genes known to be expressed in the bee brain. Several of these receptors were found to be expressed in the nerve cells that regulate bee learning and memory and that grow as a result of foraging experience. Because steroid hormones such as estrogens are important regulators of brain structure in vertebrates, it is hypothesized that the bee nuclear hormone receptors have a similar function in the bee brain. To investigate the role of nuclear hormone receptors in experience-induced brain growth, nerve cells from bees with different amounts of foraging experience will be placed in culture. The growth of neuronal processes called dendrites in these cultured cells will be studied under different combinations of hormones and nuclear receptor expression. The graduate students participating in this research project will also develop a computer-based workshop for undergraduates that will use the honeybee genome as a teaching tool for methods of DNA sequence analysis.