COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Neuroendocrine basis of gestural display evolution

合作研究：手势显示进化的神经内分泌基础

• 批准号: 1655730
• 负责人: Matthew Fuxjager
• 金额: $ 34.59万
• 依托单位: Wake Forest University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-15 至 2019-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1655730&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Neuroendocrine; basis; gestural

The signals that animals use for reproductive communication are vital for survival and progeny, and thus the evolution of such signals is extensively studied. Yet, despite this work, little is known about signal evolution from a physiological perspective, particularly with respect to how the nervous system is changed to support the emergence of novel signals. To address this issue, this research project investigates the mechanisms underlying an unusual reproductive communication signal in frogs, known as the "foot flag." By comparing how androgenic hormones, such as testosterone, act on the spinal cord and hind limb muscles in foot-flagging vs. non foot-flagging frogs, this project aims to understand what changes occurred as foot-flagging evolved in this species group. This project also applies physiological models that have explained motor disease to understanding the evolution of this complex and ecologically relevant behavior. Results provide insight into how neural systems can evolve and function in the natural environment. Additionally, the unique collaboration between researchers at a women's college, a research university, and the world-class Vienna Zoo provide hands-on research experiences for 1st and 2nd year undergraduates, particularly women and first-generation college students. The investigators also incorporate this research into undergraduate courses and fund international research experiences that include public outreach about the biology and conservation of foot-flagging frogs in Borneo, India, and Peru.This project uses a comparative approach and combines molecular and behavioral analyses to test how the action of androgenic hormones is modified in neuromotor systems to support the evolution of new reproductive communication signals. Prior data shows that the emergence of "foot flagging" in male frogs - a signal that is produced by conspicuously waving the hind limb - is marked by a 10-fold increase in the androgenic sensitivity within the skeletal muscles that control this movement. Using quantitative real-time PCR and in situ hybridization to compare androgen receptor levels in foot-flagging vs. non-foot flagging species, this research project tests the hypothesis that changes in expression levels and patterning of androgen receptors within multiple levels of the hindlimb neuromotor pathway are associated with the independent evolution of foot flagging in multiple frog lineages. Furthermore, this project uses pharmacological tools to block androgen receptors in order to test the hypothesis that androgenic signaling in leg muscles is required for foot-flagging behavior and to support the spinal motor circuitry that controls hind limb movement. Though such "bottom up" modification of neuromotor circuitry is reported in studies of motor disease, this project is the first study to explore this as a mechanism for regulating a complex and ecologically relevant motor behavior.

动物用于生殖交流的信号对生存和后代至关重要，因此这种信号的进化被广泛研究。然而，尽管有这项工作，从生理学角度对信号进化知之甚少，特别是关于神经系统如何改变以支持新信号的出现。为了解决这个问题，这项研究项目调查了青蛙体内一种不寻常的生殖通讯信号的机制，这种信号被称为“脚旗”。通过比较雄性激素，如睾酮，如何作用于脚部下垂的青蛙和非脚部下垂的青蛙的脊髓和后肢肌肉，这个项目旨在了解随着脚部下垂的进化在这个物种群体中发生了什么变化。这个项目还应用了解释运动疾病的生理学模型来理解这种复杂的和生态相关的行为的演变。这些结果为神经系统如何在自然环境中进化和发挥作用提供了洞察力。此外，一所女子学院、一所研究型大学的研究人员与世界一流的维也纳动物园的研究人员之间的独特合作，为一年级和二年级的本科生，特别是女性和第一代大学生提供了实践研究体验。研究人员还将这项研究纳入本科课程，并资助国际研究经验，包括在婆罗洲、印度和秘鲁对脚蛙的生物学和保护进行公开推广。该项目使用比较方法，结合分子和行为分析来测试雄激素在神经运动系统中的作用如何改变，以支持新的生殖通讯信号的进化。此前的数据显示，控制这一运动的骨骼肌对雄激素的敏感度增加了10倍，这是一种通过明显挥动后肢产生的信号，在雄性青蛙身上出现了“脚步下垂”。本研究利用实时定量聚合酶链式反应和原位杂交技术比较了足部和非足部下垂物种的雄激素受体水平，验证了后肢神经运动通路多个水平的雄激素受体表达水平和模式的变化与多个蛙系中足部下垂的独立进化有关的假说。此外，该项目使用药理学工具来阻断雄激素受体，以验证腿部肌肉中的雄激素信号对于脚部下垂行为是必需的假设，并支持控制后肢运动的脊髓运动神经回路。虽然这种对神经运动回路的自下而上的修改在运动疾病的研究中有报道，但这个项目是第一次将其作为一种机制来探索调节复杂和生态相关的运动行为的机制。

项目成果

Standing Variation and the Capacity for Change: Are Endocrine Phenotypes More Variable Than Other Traits?

持续变异和变化能力：内分泌表型比其他性状更具变异性吗？

• DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy062
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Integrative and Comparative Biology
• 影响因子: 2.6
• 作者: Miles, Meredith C;Vitousek, Maren N;Husak, Jerry F;Johnson, Michele A;Martin, Lynn B;Taff, Conor C;Zimmer, Cedric;Lovern, Matthew B;Fuxjager, Matthew J
• 通讯作者: Fuxjager, Matthew J

Insight into the neuroendocrine basis of signal evolution: a case study in foot-flagging frogs

深入了解信号进化的神经内分泌基础：以蹩脚青蛙为例

• DOI: 10.1007/s00359-017-1218-0
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Journal of Comparative Physiology A
• 作者: Mangiamele, Lisa A.;Fuxjager, Matthew J.
• 通讯作者: Fuxjager, Matthew J.

Social context modulates how the winner effect restructures territorial behaviour in free-living woodpeckers

社会环境调节胜利者效应如何重组自由生活的啄木鸟的领地行为

• DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.02.011
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: Animal Behaviour
• 影响因子: 2.5
• 作者: Miles, Meredith C.;Fuxjager, Matthew J.
• 通讯作者: Fuxjager, Matthew J.

IUCN Conservation Status Does Not Predict Glucocorticoid Concentrations in Reptiles and Birds

IUCN 保护状态不能预测爬行动物和鸟类中的糖皮质激素浓度

• DOI: 10.1093/icb/icy102
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Integrative and Comparative Biology
• 影响因子: 2.6
• 作者: Martin, Lynn B;Vitousek, Maren;Donald, Jeremy W;Flock, Travis;Fuxjager, Matthew J;Goymann, Wolfgang;Hau, Michaela;Husak, Jerry;Johnson, Michele A;Kircher, Bonnie
• 通讯作者: Kircher, Bonnie

Androgens Support Male Acrobatic Courtship Behavior by Enhancing Muscle Speed and Easing the Severity of Its Tradeoff With Force

• DOI: 10.1210/en.2017-00599
• 发表时间: 2017-11-01
• 期刊: ENDOCRINOLOGY
• 影响因子: 4.8
• 作者: Fuxjager, Matthew J.;Miles, Meredith C.;Yancey, Julia
• 通讯作者: Yancey, Julia