The role of neural signaling pathways in costs of reproduction on aging

项目摘要 适应性权衡被认为在适应性性状的遗传结构中起着重要作用，包括 塑造与人类健康相关的基因。生殖成本，特别是影响寿命的成本， 在表型和群体遗传水平上， 物种，但对其潜在的生物学机制知之甚少。在我们对果蝇的研究中， 果蝇，我们发现繁殖的生存成本是由进化介导的 保守的神经肽，这些肽是动态控制的神经回路，影响 繁殖成功，这些电路影响下游的代谢网络。我们的目标 建议的研究是识别和表征保守的神经信号通路， 控制繁殖成本并影响其演变。我们提出了一个模型， 生殖策略及其对衰老的影响是由神经系统的反应决定的， 个体的生殖期望和生殖成就的结合。重要的是， 这些决定与任何与交配本身有关的身体或能量效应无关。我们将测试 这个模型使用创新的方法来识别环境线索和感知系统的基础 生殖期望和回报，以及受这些过程影响的信号通路。 我们将结合联合收割机，使用单基因突变和先进的细胞生物学技术 对于神经元操作，用系统和网络生物学方法来确定潜在的机制， 繁殖和衰老。完成后，这项研究将提供新的见解的线索，预示着 繁殖成功，这些线索的解释机制，以及它们的调节作用 关于寿命。这些见解将有助于我们理解本质的进化和健康问题- 包括性冲突、生殖投资和衰老。

Project Summary Fitness trade-offs are thought to play a fundamental role in the genetic architecture of fitness traits, including shaping genes relevant to human health. Reproductive costs, particularly those that influence lifespan and late-age disease, have been explored at the phenotypic and population genetic levels in a wide range of species, but little is known about their underlying biological mechanisms. In our work on the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, we have found that survival costs of reproduction are mediated by evolutionarily conserved neuropeptides, that these peptides are dynamically controlled by neural circuits that influence reproductive success, and that these circuits influence downstream metabolic networks. The goal of our proposed research is to identify and characterize conserved neural signaling pathways that orchestrate the control of costs of reproduction and influence their evolution. We propose a model whereby an individual’s reproductive strategy, with its attendant effects on aging, is determined by neurological decisions in response to a combination of that individual’s reproductive expectation and reproductive achievement. Importantly, these decisions are independent of any physical or energetic effects associated with mating itself. We will test this model using innovative approaches to identify the environmental cues and perceptive systems underlying reproductive expectation and reward, as well as the signaling pathways that are influenced by these processes. We will combine a reductionist approach, using single-gene mutations and advanced cell-biology techniques for neuronal manipulations, with a systems and network biology approach to identify mechanisms underlying reproduction and aging. When complete, this research will provide new insights into the cues that portend reproductive success, the mechanisms through which those cues are interpreted, and their regulatory effects on lifespan. These insights will aid our understanding of quintessential evolutionary and health issues – including sexual conflict, reproductive investment, and aging.