SGER: Genetics of Social Cognition in Drosophila

SGER：果蝇社会认知的遗传学

• 批准号: 0840717
• 负责人: Ralph Greenspan
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-01-01 至 2010-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0840717&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Genetics; Social; Cognition; Drosophila

This project asks whether genes that are known to affect cognitive and social functions in humans exert similar effects in a simple organism, the fruit fly Drosophila, which is particularly well suited to experimentation. The most striking and specific human genetic syndrome that affects social behavior and cognition is Williams Syndrome, a genetic condition produced by abnormalities in a small slate of genes on human chromosome 7. Fruit flies have their own versions of the genes affected in Williams Syndrome. The goal of this study is to re-construct the Williams Syndrome set of genes (and subsets of it) in strains of the fruit fly, and then test these strains in a variety of well characterized cognitive and social tasks worked out for this organism. The value of testing the role of these genes in the fruit fly is that it offers unequalled potential for delving into the mechanisms through which genes affect brain functions relevant to social behavior.This work would have repercussions throughout the world of Special Education in particular, and education in general. Understanding the genetic and neurobiological bases for cognition, social behavior, and their interaction will have a profound influence on how we educate children with disabilities, as well as how we structure education in general, thus opening avenues that will ramify far outside of the narrow research field in which it is conducted. In addition, it will also provide a training opportunity for a postdoctoral research fellow.

这个项目的问题是，已知会影响人类认知和社会功能的基因，是否会在一种特别适合实验的简单生物——果蝇身上发挥类似的作用。影响社会行为和认知的最显著、最特殊的人类遗传综合征是威廉姆斯综合征，这是一种由人类7号染色体上一小部分基因异常引起的遗传病。果蝇有它们自己的威廉姆斯综合症基因版本。本研究的目标是在果蝇菌株中重建威廉姆斯综合征的基因集（及其子集），然后在为这种生物体设计的各种具有良好特征的认知和社会任务中测试这些菌株。测试这些基因在果蝇中的作用的价值在于，它为深入研究基因影响与社会行为相关的大脑功能的机制提供了无与伦比的潜力。这项工作将在整个特殊教育领域产生影响，尤其是在整个教育领域。了解认知、社会行为的遗传和神经生物学基础，以及它们之间的相互作用，将对我们如何教育残疾儿童，以及我们如何构建一般教育产生深远的影响，从而开辟出远远超出目前狭隘研究领域的途径。此外，还将为博士后研究员提供培训机会。