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The Genetics of Natural Variation in Memory Retention in Nasonia

Nasonia 记忆保留自然变异的遗传学

基本信息

批准号：
1456233
负责人：
John Werren
金额：
$ 65万
依托单位：
University of Rochester
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2015-08-01 至 2019-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1456233&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Genetics Natural Variation Memory Retention

项目摘要

Although some aspects of learning are well understood, little is known about the genes involved in differences in learning between species or how animals forget once they learn something. This project will investigate the "genetics of forgetting", by first determining which genes cause forgetting differences in Nasonia, a small insect suitable for efficient genetic study, and then determining how these genes function. The work has the potential to reveal new genes and mechanisms involved in memory. Species as different as insects and humans share some of the same basic mechanisms underlying memory gain and loss, so these mechanisms are likely to be broadly applicable. The discovery of genes for "forgetting" is likely to capture the imagination of both scientists and non-scientists, and will therefore contribute broadly to science education. Educational outreach builds on ongoing collaborations with Jamestown Community College. Efforts are geared towards introducing investigative learning instruction using Nasonia in both high schools and community colleges. The insect genus Nasonia is a tractable laboratory organism with a burgeoning research toolkit. The insects quickly learn to associate novel odors with a host reward. However, memory retention following a host reward differs considerably between closely related species. In an exciting new finding, genetic regions containing reduced memory retention genes have been successfully backcrossed from the low memory retention species into the high memory retention species. The goals of this project are to clone the memory retention genes by recombination, identify how their coding and cis-regulatory regions differ, determine where and when they are expressed and whether they modulate expression of other memory genes following a learning experience, investigate their effects on memory retention using RNA interference knockdowns, and determine whether the memory retention effects generalize to other learning modes (e.g. visual stimuli, aversive stimuli). Given the genetic tools available in Nasonia and an established track record in cloning genes causing species difference, the project has a high probability of success. Data will be made available through National Center for Biological Information (NCBI) databases, the Hymenopteran database and through publication in open access journals.

虽然我们对学习的某些方面已经有了很好的理解，但对于物种之间学习差异所涉及的基因以及动物在学习后如何遗忘却知之甚少。该项目将研究“遗忘的遗传学”，首先确定哪些基因导致纳索尼亚（一种适合进行有效遗传研究的小昆虫）的遗忘差异，然后确定这些基因如何发挥作用。这项工作有可能揭示与记忆有关的新基因和机制。像昆虫和人类这样不同的物种，在记忆获得和丧失的基础上有一些相同的基本机制，因此这些机制可能具有广泛的适用性。“遗忘”基因的发现可能会激发科学家和非科学家的想象力，因此将对科学教育做出广泛贡献。教育推广工作建立在与詹姆斯敦社区学院持续合作的基础上。正在努力在高中和社区大学引入使用Nasonia的研究性学习教学。昆虫属Nasonia是一种易于处理的实验室生物，具有新兴的研究工具包。昆虫很快学会将新奇的气味与宿主的奖励联系起来。然而，记忆保留主机奖励之间有很大的不同密切相关的物种。在一项令人兴奋的新发现中，含有记忆力下降基因的基因区域已经成功地从低记忆力物种回交到高记忆力物种。本项目的目标是通过重组克隆记忆保持基因，鉴定它们的编码区和顺式调节区如何不同，确定它们在何处和何时表达，以及它们是否在学习经历后调节其他记忆基因的表达，使用RNA干扰敲除研究它们对记忆保持的影响，并确定记忆保持效果是否推广到其他学习模式（例如视觉刺激、厌恶刺激）。鉴于纳索尼亚可用的遗传工具以及克隆导致物种差异的基因的既定记录，该项目成功的可能性很高。数据将通过国家生物信息中心（NCBI）数据库、Hypholteran数据库和开放获取期刊上的出版物提供。