RIG: Characterization of Serotonergic Pathways Involved in Behavioral Adaptation.

动物有感知、处理和响应信号的能力，这些信号对它们在环境中导航很重要。这些对外部信号的行为反应依赖于神经系统？检测和整合这些信号的能力。随着时间的推移，持续暴露在刺激下会导致动物的行为反应减弱，这种现象被称为适应。适应对于生物体在持续存在的刺激存在的情况下发现可能具有威胁性的新刺激并作出反应至关重要。被称为突触的神经连接的改变被认为是形成适应和其他简单学习形式的基础。关于这一过程的一个核心问题是神经系统是如何改变其连接来产生这种减弱的反应的。本项目的目的是鉴定介导适应的基因产物（蛋白质）。该项目将利用线虫，秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans），这是一种特征良好的模式生物，用于识别与行为有关的基因。一种测量产卵行为对长期暴露于神经递质5 -羟色胺的适应性的方法已经被开发出来，并将用于检查适应所需的突触连接，以及产生对这种产卵反应有适应缺陷的突变蠕虫。分离出有适应缺陷的突变蠕虫将为鉴定与这种行为有关的基因提供一种手段。由于血清素是一种重要的神经信号，介导诸如进食、交配行为和攻击等行为反应，因此这项研究可能会深入了解其他依赖血清素的行为是如何被持续刺激改变的。该项目将通过申请人对教育产生更广泛的影响？美国国家科学基金会（nsf）资助的STEP计划旨在提高学生的参与度和留校率，包括在科学领域代表性不足的群体。此外，申请人将秀丽隐杆线虫的研究应用于分子生物学、遗传学和神经生物学的教学中。

Animals have the ability to sense, process and respond to signals important for navigating their environment. These behavioral responses to external signals rely on the nervous system?s ability to detect and integrate these signals. A continued exposure to a stimulus over time results in the animal diminishing its behavioral response, a phenomenon referred to as adaptation. Adaptation is critical for an organism to detect and respond to a new, possibly threatening, stimulus while in the presence of a continuous, existing stimulus. Modification of neural connections called synapses is thought to form the basis for adaptation, and other simple forms of learning. A central question regarding this process is how the nervous system modifies its connections to produce this diminished response. The goal of this project is to identify the gene products (proteins) mediating adaptation. The project will utilize the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a well-characterized model organism for identifying genes involved in behavior. A method for measuring adaptation of the egg-laying behavior to long-term exposure to the neurotransmitter, serotonin, has been developed and will be used to examine the synaptic connections required for adaptation as well as to generate mutant worms defective in adaptation of this egg-laying response. Isolation of mutant worms defective in adaptation will provide a means to identified genes involved in this behavior. Because serotonin is an important neural signal that mediates behavioral responses such as feeding, mating behavior and aggression, this research may provide insight into how other serotonin-dependent behaviors are altered by continual stimulation. The project will have a broader impact on education through the applicant?s participation in the NSF-sponsored STEP program, which serves to increase participation and retention of students, including under-represented groups in the sciences. In addition, the applicant utilizes research in C. elegans in teaching molecular biology, genetics and neurobiology.