NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2021: The neurocircuitry of spider web-building

2021 财年 NSF 生物学博士后奖学金：蜘蛛网构建的神经回路

• 批准号: 2109747
• 负责人: Gregory Artiushin
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Artiushin, Gregory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-03-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2109747&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSF; Postdoctoral; Fellowship; Biology; FY

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2021, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the Fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. Understanding complex behaviors occurring over long time scales is a substantial challenge in neuroscience. Orb-web weaving spiders present a unique example of animal construction that is an innate behavior (encoded in the genome) performed by an animal with a relatively small and easy to study nervous system. A web is a record of a spider’s movements (as it trails silk) and follows simple geometric rules with few sensory inputs. Despite this simplicity, the neuroscience of spider web-building has received limited attention. This project uses the hackled orb-weaver, Uloborus diversus, as a model organism for creating a map of the spider’s brain that identifies the neurocircuitry that controls web-building. Orb-web building is a readily understandable behavior, and the non-venomous U. diversus (and its webs) can be easily transported for public introductions to spider behavioral neuroscience; the Fellow will pursue teaching and outreach opportunities in science museums and in the Baltimore school district using this unique feature of the study system.The aims of this project are to reveal the circuitry governing orb web-building in U. diversus by 1) establishing a brain atlas of the major neurotransmitter/neuromodulator systems through immunohistochemistry, 2) imaging expression of a putative immediate-early gene homolog by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to mark active neuronal populations at different stages of web-building, and 3) investigating the expression and behavioral influence of ecdysone, a candidate signaling molecule in this system. The Fellow will gain training in spider neurobiology, and the application of modern molecular techniques such as small molecule FISH to whole-mount brain preparations in this novel model. Furthermore, this project will provide experience with computational methods, including the use of alignment and registration algorithms in creating a spider brain atlas, and familiarity with machine vision and deep learning, which is relied upon for analysis of spider behavior and web construction. Pursuit of these aims will provide opportunities for mentorship, including with undergraduates who will be annotating an anatomical data set to be incorporated into the atlas. The completed atlas will be made publicly available and serve as a foundational tool and entry-point for other researchers interested in spider neuroscience.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.

该行动资助了2021财年的NSF生物学博士后研究奖学金，即调查基因组，环境和表型之间相互作用的生命规则的综合研究。该研究金支持研究员的研究和培训，以创新的方式为生活规则领域做出贡献。理解长时间尺度上发生的复杂行为是神经科学的一个重大挑战。圆网蜘蛛是动物构造的一个独特例子，它是一种先天行为（编码在基因组中），由一种相对较小且易于研究的神经系统的动物执行。蜘蛛网是蜘蛛运动的记录（因为它跟踪丝），并遵循简单的几何规则，几乎没有感觉输入。尽管如此简单，蜘蛛网构建的神经科学却受到了有限的关注。这个项目使用粗糙的圆网蜘蛛Uloborus diversus作为模型生物，用于创建蜘蛛大脑的地图，以识别控制网络构建的神经回路。建造圆网是一种很容易理解的行为。该研究员将利用这一独特的研究系统在科学博物馆和巴尔的摩学区寻求教学和推广机会。通过1）通过免疫组织化学建立主要神经递质/神经调质系统的脑图谱，2）通过荧光原位杂交（FISH）对推定的立即早期基因同系物的表达进行成像，以标记网络构建的不同阶段的活跃神经元群体，以及3）调查蜕皮激素（该系统中的候选信号分子）的表达和行为影响。研究员将获得蜘蛛神经生物学的培训，以及现代分子技术的应用，如小分子FISH在这种新模型中的全脑制备。此外，该项目将提供计算方法的经验，包括使用对齐和注册算法创建蜘蛛大脑图谱，以及熟悉机器视觉和深度学习，这是依赖于蜘蛛行为和网络构建的分析。追求这些目标将提供指导的机会，包括与本科生谁将注释解剖数据集纳入地图集。完成后的地图集将向公众开放，并作为其他对蜘蛛神经科学感兴趣的研究人员的基础工具和切入点。该奖项反映了NSF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。