Interactions Between Neurohormonal Systems: Studies at the Genetic and Cellular Level

侵略是一种天生的行为，对于获得配偶、食物和庇护至关重要。它的病态形式——暴力——是一个严重的社会问题。在这两种情况下，攻击性都有生物根源，但人们对其知之甚少。这个项目研究了黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）的攻击性，重点研究了雄性果蝇在战斗中获胜和失败时的学习和记忆。失败的苍蝇对熟悉和不熟悉的对手的记忆和战斗方式是不同的，但失败的苍蝇在与所有对手的第二次战斗中都会失败（一种行为条件下的“失败者心态”形成）。有了强大的遗传方法，可以随时随地操纵神经系统中的基因，而且有了一种重要的行为来研究，果蝇提供了理想的实验动物，可以将遗传和行为方法结合起来，提出以下问题：苍蝇的记忆状态能持续多久？训练方案是否会影响记忆的持续时间？2. 在果蝇或其他系统的简单测试协议中，被确定为在学习和记忆中起重要作用的基因是否在该模型中更复杂的社会介导的学习和记忆伴随攻击中起类似作用？3. 像5 -羟色胺和多巴胺这样的胺递质在伴随攻击性的学习和记忆中起什么作用？4. 基因表达的变化是否伴随着社会地位的变化？除了解决具有挑战性的科学问题外，该项目还提供了广泛的培训机会。高中生、本科生、研究生和博士后继续参与该项目，并将在各个层面参与。大学使用的教学模块是围绕PI早期的龙虾和现在的果蝇实验系统设计的，Kravitz实验室生成的视频被世界各地的教师用于行为生物学的教学。

Aggression is an innate behavior essential for access to mates, food and shelter. Its pathological form, violence, is a serious problem in society. In both cases, aggression has biological roots that remain poorly understood. This project examines aggression in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, focusing on the learning and memory that accompanies winning and losing fights in male flies. Losing flies remember and fight differently against familiar and non-familiar opponents, but losers lose second fights against all opponents (a behaviorally conditioned "loser mentality" develops). With powerful genetic methods available that allow manipulation of genes anytime and anywhere desired in the nervous system, and with an important behavior to examine, fruit flies offer ideal experimental animals in which to combine genetic and behavioral approaches in asking the following questions: 1. How long do flies remember status, and does the training protocol influence the duration of the memory? 2. Do genes identified as serving important roles in learning and memory in simple test protocols in flies or in other systems serve similar roles in the more complex socially-mediated learning and memory accompanying aggression in this model? 3. What roles do amine transmitters like serotonin and dopamine serve in the learning and memory accompanying aggression? 4. Do changes in gene expression accompany changes in social status? In addition to the challenging scientific questions being addressed, this project offers a broad range of training opportunities. High school, undergraduate, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows continue to work on the project and will be involved at all levels. Teaching modules used in colleges have been designed around both of the PI's earlier lobster and the present fruit fly experimental systems and the videos generated in the Kravitz laboratory are being used in teaching behavioral biology by faculty around the world.