Dissertation Research: Uncovering molecular mechanisms of facial recognition using comparative transcriptomics

很少有动物，大多数是人类和其他灵长类动物，被认为具有识别彼此面孔的特殊能力。这一令人印象深刻的学习壮举是如何实现的？到目前为止，由于技术的限制，很难研究动物的大脑和基因是如何允许它们识别面孔的。在这里，研究人员正在利用一些人可能认为这是一个令人惊讶的模型--昆虫--来深入研究面部识别如何在大脑和基因水平上发挥作用。研究人员表明，几种群居用纸黄蜂(Polistes)具有识别个人面孔的能力。黄蜂在面部颜色图案上有惊人的变化，它们比其他视觉图案更容易学习面部。相比之下，近亲物种Polistes metricus没有面部变异，也缺乏比其他模式更容易识别面部的特殊能力。这两个面部识别能力截然不同的物种为研究基因、大脑和这种能力之间的关系提供了一个独特的机会。在伊丽莎白·蒂贝茨博士的合作下，每种黄蜂都接受了识别面孔或非面孔图案的训练。托斯博士和贝伦斯女士将使用“下一代”测序技术来测量这些黄蜂大脑中数千个基因的活性，以确定是否存在与面部识别相关的特定基因。然后，研究小组将操纵黄蜂大脑中的基因活动，以确定这种变化是可以提高还是削弱黄蜂的面部识别能力。了解大脑、基因和面部识别之间的相互作用将有益于人类健康，因为面部识别障碍会损害人类的社交互动。这个项目意义重大，因为它将使用纸黄蜂模型提供第一次深入的遗传分析，这种复杂的学习形式很难在人类和其他灵长类动物中进行详细研究。RNA数据将存储在ArrayExpress(http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/)

Very few animals, mostly humans and other primates, are known to have a special ability to recognize each other's faces. How is this impressive feat of learning accomplished? Until now, technical limitations have made it difficult to study the ways in which animals' brains and genes permit them to recognize faces. Here the researchers are taking advantage of what some may consider a surprising model for this, insects, to delve into how facial recognition works on the level of brains and genes. The researchers have shown that several species of social paper wasps (Polistes) possess the ability to recognize individual faces. Polistes fuscatus wasps have striking variation in facial color patterns and they can learn faces much more readily than other visual patterns. In contrast a closely related species, Polistes metricus, does not have facial variation and lacks the special ability to learn faces more readily than other patterns. These two species with contrasting facial recognition abilities provide a unique opportunity to study the relationship between genes, brains and this ability. In collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Tibbetts, wasps of each species are trained to recognize faces or non-face patterns. Dr. Toth and Ms. Berens will use "next generation" sequencing to measure the activity of thousands of genes in these wasps' brains to determine whether there are particular genes associated with facial recognition. The team will then manipulate gene activity in wasps' brains in order to determine whether such a change can improve or impair wasps' facial recognition abilities. Understanding the interplay between brains, genes, and facial recognition will be of benefit to human health since disordered facial recognition can impair human social interactions. This project is significant because it will use the paper wasp model to provide the first in-depth genetic analysis of a sophisticated form of learning that has been difficult to study in detail in humans and other primates.RNA data will be deposited at ArrayExpress (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/)