Doctoral Dissertation Research: Variation in neuroanatomy and gene expression of the primate brain

博士论文研究：灵长类动物大脑的神经解剖学和基因表达的变化

• 批准号: 1752393
• 负责人: James Higham
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-03-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1752393&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Variation; neuroanatomy

Human males and females exhibit differences in the prevalence of certain neurological disorders, which may be influenced by differences in neuroanatomy and brain gene expression. This doctoral dissertation project uses a non-human primate model to investigate male and female variation in brain anatomy and gene expression and to consider selective pressures that may have led to this variation. This fundamental research has the potential to inform developing treatments for neurobehavioral disorders in humans, particularly given that the non-human primate model is likely to be more relevant than murine models for understanding social behavior. Funding for this project will support the research of a minority female graduate student who will also serve as an educator and mentor. She will conduct science outreach through her participation in multiple after-school and summer programs, all of which offer mentorship and/or research experience to underrepresented and underserved students interested in science. Sexual selection is an evolutionary process whereby certain traits are under selective pressure related to competition over access to mates or selection of preferred mates. These mechanisms differ across species, and have resulted in sex differences in non-neurological traits (e.g. body size, hair color). Limited evidence suggests that sexual selection may also influence brain evolution and that these selective pressures may have been particularly strong on the brain during human evolution. The researchers will collect new neurobiological data in female and male primate brains to characterize species-specific sex differences in brain region volumes, sulcal morphology, and gene expression using phylogenetic comparative methods and differential expression analyses. They will then test for correlates of within-species variation in brain sex differences using two large datasets, including chimpanzee sulcal morphology and rhesus macaque brain gene expression, which also contain matching behavioral data.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

人类男性和女性在某些神经系统疾病的患病率上存在差异，这可能受到神经解剖学和大脑基因表达差异的影响。本博士论文项目使用非人类灵长类动物模型来研究雄性和雌性在大脑解剖和基因表达方面的差异，并考虑可能导致这种差异的选择压力。这项基础研究有可能为开发人类神经行为障碍的治疗方法提供信息，特别是考虑到非人类灵长类动物模型可能比小鼠模型更能理解社会行为。该项目的资金将支持一名少数民族女研究生的研究，她也将担任教育者和导师。她将通过参加多个课外和暑期项目来开展科学推广，所有这些项目都为对科学感兴趣的代表性不足和服务不足的学生提供指导和/或研究经验。性选择是一种进化过程，在这种过程中，某些特征受到与获得配偶的竞争或择偶有关的选择压力。这些机制因物种而异，并导致了非神经学特征（如体型、头发颜色）的性别差异。有限的证据表明，性选择也可能影响大脑进化，而且在人类进化过程中，这些选择压力对大脑的影响可能特别大。研究人员将在雌性和雄性灵长类动物的大脑中收集新的神经生物学数据，利用系统发育比较方法和差异表达分析来表征大脑区域体积、脑沟形态和基因表达方面的物种特异性性别差异。然后，他们将使用两个大型数据集，包括黑猩猩的脑沟形态和恒河猴的大脑基因表达，测试大脑性别差异在物种内变化的相关性，这些数据集也包含匹配的行为数据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Primate mosaic brain evolution reflects selection on sensory and cognitive specialization

• DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0969-0
• 发表时间: 2019-10-01
• 期刊: NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
• 影响因子: 16.8
• 作者: DeCasien, Alex R.;Higham, James P.
• 通讯作者: Higham, James P.

Program of the 87th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists

美国体质人类学家协会第87届年会议程

• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23489
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: American Journal of Physical Anthropology
• 影响因子: 2.8
• 作者: DeCasien, A.R.