Environmental, Endocrine and Epigenetic Drivers of Sociality in Birds

影响动物形态、生理和行为特征变化的机制很重要，因为它们决定了生物体如何科普环境挑战，而且这些反应会影响生命后期的行为。最近的证据表明，所谓的表观遗传机制可以影响动物对环境变化的反应。表观遗传机制是基因表达中的可遗传变化，这些变化不在DNA序列中编码。 当表观遗传变化发生在生命早期时，可能会对生理和行为产生长期影响。例如，在发育过程中控制应激激素受体的机制中，DNA甲基化（一种表观遗传控制形式）的增加会损害成年人对应激的生理反应。由于应对压力是人类和非人类应对环境变化的一种核心方式，因此确定发育压力源是否以及如何对生物体的一生产生负面影响将非常重要。利用对优秀椋鸟的长期研究（Lamprotornis superbus）在肯尼亚，该项目将（1）探索环境压力对应激激素受体机制以及整个基因组中DNA甲基化的发育影响，随后（2）确定发育过程中DNA甲基化如何影响成年应激生理学，生殖行为和健身使用长期DNA收集，应激激素样本和实验操作。这项工作将在非模式生物中使用表观遗传工具创造新的研究途径，其中吸取的经验教训可以应用于包括人类在内的其他模式系统。这项研究将通过实地课程，研讨会和实地和实验室的研究项目来培训美国和肯尼亚的学生。研究人员还将与肯尼亚的一个基层保护组织密切合作，教育农村学校的儿童了解受威胁生物和生态系统的保护和野生动物以及气候变化。

The mechanisms that influence variation in the morphological, physiological, and behavioral characteristics of animals are important because they determine how organisms cope with environmental challenges, and because these responses can affect behavior in later stages of life. Recent evidence suggests that so-called epigenetic mechanisms can affect how animals respond to environmental change. Epigenetic mechanisms are heritable changes in gene expression that are not encoded in the DNA sequence. When epigenetic changes occur early in life, there can be long-term consequences for physiology and behavior. For example, increased DNA methylation (a form of epigenetic control) in the machinery that controls the receptor for stress hormone during development can impair an adult's physiological response to stress. Because coping with stress represents a central way in which both humans and non-humans respond to environment change, it will be important to determine if and how developmental stressors might negatively affect organisms throughout their lives. Using a long-term study of superb starlings (Lamprotornis superbus) in Kenya this project will (1) explore the developmental effects of environmental stressors on DNA methylation in the stress hormone receptor machinery, as well as in the entire genome, and subsequently (2) determine how DNA methylation during development affects adult stress physiology, reproductive behavior, and fitness using a long-term DNA collection, stress hormone samples, and experimental manipulations. This work will create new avenues of research using epigenetic tools in non-model organisms, where the lessons learned can be applied back to other model systems including humans. This study will train American and Kenyan students through field courses, workshops, and research projects in the field and lab. Researchers will also work closely with a grassroots conservation organization in Kenya to educate rural school children about conservation and wildlife of threatened organisms and ecosystems and about climate change.