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

攻击性是一种与生俱来的行为，对于获得配偶、食物和住所至关重要。 其病理形式-暴力-是一个严重的社会问题。 在这两种情况下，侵略都有生物学根源，但人们对这一根源仍知之甚少。这个项目研究果蝇的攻击性，重点是雄性果蝇的学习和记忆，伴随着胜利和失败的战斗。 失败的苍蝇会记住并以不同的方式与熟悉和不熟悉的对手作战，但失败者会在与所有对手的第二次战斗中失败（一种行为条件下的“失败者心态”发展）。有了强大的遗传学方法，可以随时随地操纵神经系统中所需的基因，并检查一个重要的行为，果蝇提供了理想的实验动物，其中联合收割机结合遗传和行为的方法，提出以下问题：1。苍蝇能记住状态多长时间？训练方案会影响记忆的持续时间吗？2.在果蝇或其他系统的简单测试方案中被鉴定为在学习和记忆中起重要作用的基因，在该模型中伴随攻击的更复杂的社会介导的学习和记忆中是否起类似的作用？3.胺递质如血清素和多巴胺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？ 除了正在解决的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、研究生和博士后研究员继续致力于该项目，并将参与各个层面的工作。大学中使用的教学模块是围绕PI早期的龙虾和目前的果蝇实验系统设计的，Kravitz实验室生成的视频正在被世界各地的教师用于教授行为生物学。

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.