Understanding mechanisms of sex specification and phenotypes in an animal model

变性乌贼性行为可塑性的机制 行为性行为表型背后的生物学过程尚不完全清楚。 自然地经历性别变化以响应其社会变化的有机体 环境为研究行为性行为的机制提供了极好的系统 规格。蓝头鱼特别适合解决这个问题。成虫 女性可以根据社会结构的变化而改变性别。此外，行为性行为 转变可能会迅速发生，从而提供了一个调查 这种可塑性的神经生物学基础。我们建议进一步开发该系统，作为 探讨行为性表型可塑性的机制。建议的工作构建 关于行为性变型的“启动/门控”假说；这一假说解释了 社会等级与转型能力之间的关系。我们的第一个目标是 即刻早期基因c-Fos和p-S6在交配和非交配中的表达比较 向鱼求爱。我们期望这一结果将进一步阐明控制 表达男性典型的求爱行为。测试这些电路的因果作用 求爱行为，我们计划通过离子迁移谷氨酸来激活特定的大脑 并监测与求爱相关的肤色变化。我们的目标是找出 神经回路的特性，构成经历性行为转变能力的基础。

Mechanisms of behavioral sex plasticity in sex-changing wrasses The biological processes that underlie behavioral sex phenotype are incompletely understood. Organisms that naturally undergo sex transformations in response to changes in their social environment provide excellent systems in which to investigate mechanisms of behavioral sex specification. Bluehead wrasses in particular are well suited for addressing this problem. Adult females can switch sex in response to changes in social structure. Further, behavioral sex transformation can occur rapidly, thereby providing an opportunity to investigate the neurobiological basis of this plasticity. We propose to further develop this system as a model for investigating mechanisms of plasticity of behavioral sex phenotype. The proposed work builds on our ‘priming/gating’ hypothesis of behavioral sex transformation; this hypothesis accounts for the relation between social rank and competency for transformation. Our first objective is to compare the expression of the immediate-early genes, c-Fos and p-S6, in courting and non- courting fish. We expect that results will further elucidate the neural circuits that control the expression of male-typical courtship behavior. To test for causal roles of these circuits in courtship behavior, we plan to iontophorese glutamate to discretely activate particular brain regions and monitor courtship-related changes in skin coloration. Our goal is to identify properties of neural circuits that underlie competency to undergo behavioral sex transformation.