IRES Track 1: US-Japan study of novel genetic elements regulating seasonal behavior of medaka fish.

该IRES项目涉及蒙特克莱尔州立大学(MSU)与日本的三个合作伙伴之间的合作：国家遗传学研究所(NIG)、名古屋大学转化生物分子研究所(ITBM)和国家基础生物学研究所(NIBB)。该项目的总体目标是为STEM学生提供丰富的国际研究经验，并期望它将成为他们参与全球科学界的基础。这三个研究所的导师以使用青竹进行遗传和行为研究的专业知识而闻名世界，并拥有最先进的设施来支持这项研究。具体目标是让学生在学习基因在行为科学中的作用时利用尖端基因编辑技术，提高他们的沟通、团队合作和跨文化技能，并在科学同行评议期刊上发表文章。该项目将在三年内吸引总共18名美国研究生和高年级本科生。学生将在全国范围内招生，特别考虑到那些通常无法获得此类研究经验的学生。每组六名学生将参加为期两周的研究技巧、文化和语言课程以及专业发展的项目前研讨会，然后进行为期八周的研究体验。通过积极招募代表性不足的学生，该项目将为通常忽视这种经历的学生提供丰富的机会，同时促进全球科学界的多样化。每个日本研究所将接待两名美国学生，他们将在现有的团队中工作，以日本青花鱼(Oryzias Latipe)为模式生物，研究季节性、生理和行为过程。他们工作的科学目标将是确定动物对环境变化的行为适应所涉及的分子机制。每个团队都将使用最先进的CRISPR-Cas9 DNA编辑技术。ITbM和NIBB的学生将致力于描述和阐明选定的遗传因素的功能及其对行为和季节变化的贡献。通过全球筛选确定的这些遗传因素，已被发现在长日照和短日照条件下，在青冈鱼的下丘脑和脑下垂体中差异表达。NIG的两名学生的研究重点将是培育和鉴定缺乏cAMP反应元件调节器(CREM)基因或CREM基因的独特亚型表达的突变鱼(ICER)。CREM属于CRE结合基因家族，编码转录激活因子和抑制因子。CREM基因的大多数激活因子和抑制因子与CREB和ATF等其他基因具有相似和多余的功能。然而，在其他Cre结合基因的产物中，ICER是独一无二的，因为它是一种可诱导的显性转录抑制因子。已发现CREM参与许多生理过程，但ICER的确切作用尚未阐明。在最初的一年后，在NIG工作的两名学生将加入到研究ITBM和NIBB研究人员确定的一组可能目标的其他基因或遗传元素的工作中。这一为期三年的研究项目有可能为农业、农业和水产养殖等对环境变化敏感的行业的新做法提供信息。更广泛地说，这项研究将增加关于基因和行为之间相互作用的文献。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This IRES project involves a collaboration between Montclair State University (MSU) and three partners in Japan: the National Institute of Genetics (NIG); the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITbM) at Nagoya University; and the National Institute of Basic Biology (NIBB). The overarching goal of the project is to provide a rich international research experience for STEM students with the expectation that it will serve as a foundation for them to engage in the global scientific community. The mentors at these three institutes are world-renowned for their expertise on genetic and behavioral studies using medaka and have state-of-the-art facilities to support this research. The specific aims are to have students utilize cutting-edge gene editing techniques as they learn about the role of genes in behavioral sciences, improve their communication, teamwork, and cross-cultural skills, and contribute to a publication in a scientific peer-reviewed journal. The project will engage a total of 18 U.S. graduate and upper-class undergraduate students over three years. Students will be recruited nationally, with special consideration for the inclusion of students who typically do not have access to such research experiences. Each cohort of six students will participate in pre-program workshops on research techniques, cultural and language lessons, and professional development for two weeks before their eight-week research experience. Through its active recruitment of underrepresented students, the project will provide rich opportunities for students who typically overlook such experiences while at the same time contributing to the diversification of the scientific community at the global level. Each Japanese Institute will host a pair of U.S. students, who will work within existing teams to study seasonal, physiological, and behavioral processes using Japanese medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) as a model organism. The scientific objective of their work will be to determine the molecular mechanisms involved in behavioral adaptations of animals to environmental changes. Each team will be using state-of-the-art CRISPR-Cas9 DNA editing techniques. The students at ITbM and NIBB will be working to characterize and elucidate the function of selected genetic elements and their contributions to behavioral and seasonal changes. These genetic elements, that have been identified through a global screening, have been found to be differentially expressed in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland of medaka fish during long- and short-day conditions. The research focus of the two students at NIG will be to generate and characterize mutant fish either lacking the expression of a gene termed cAMP Responsive Element Modulator (CREM) or lacking the expression of a unique isoform of the CREM gene termed Inducible cAMP Early Repressor (ICER). CREM belongs to a family of CRE-binding genes that code for activators and repressors of transcription. Most activators and repressors of the CREM gene have similar and redundant functions with other genes like CREB and ATF. ICER, however, is unique among the products of other CRE-binding genes because it is an inducible and dominant transcriptional repressor. CREM has been found to be involved in many physiological processes but the precise contribution of ICER has not been elucidated. After the initial year, the two students working at NIG will be joining the efforts on studying other genes or genetic elements of the group of possible targets identified by the ITbM and NIBB researchers. This three-year research project has the potential to inform new practices in industries that are sensitive to environmental changes such as farming, agriculture, and aquaculture. More generally, the research will add to the body of literature on the interactions between genes and behavior.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.