Representation and modulation of social information in the ant chemosensory system

蚂蚁化学感应系统中社会信息的表示和调制

• 批准号: 10461931
• 负责人: Daniel Kronauer
• 金额: $ 44.79万
• 依托单位: ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10461931
• 关键词: Address; Afferent Neurons; Age; Animals; Ants; Area; Attention; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Model; Biological; Biological Models; Biology; Brain; Chemicals; Clinical; Communities; Complex; Cues; Data; Development; Diffuse; Disease; Drosophila genus; Dyes; Electrophysiology (science); Ethology; Foundations; Future; Genetic; Head; Human; Image; Individual; Individual Differences; Individuality; Insecta; Invertebrates; Investigation; Label; Laboratories; Lead; Light; Lobe; Maps; Microscope; Modeling; Modernization; Mus; Nervous system structure; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Neurosciences; Odorant Receptors; Odors; Perception; Phenotype; Pheromone; Population; Problem behavior; Proteins; Protocols documentation; Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Role; Schizophrenia; Sensory; Social Behavior; Societies; Specificity; Stimulus; System; Theoretical model; Transgenic Organisms; Variant; Work; asexual; autism spectrum disorder; base; behavioral outcome; behavioral plasticity; behavioral response; behavioral study; brain circuitry; calcium indicator; experimental study; fascinate; insight; neural correlate; neurogenetics; olfactory bulb; olfactory sensory neurons; predicting response; prevent; programs; promoter; receptor; relating to nervous system; response; single-cell RNA sequencing; social; tool; two photon microscopy; two-photon

PROJECT SUMMARY Social insects show robust and complex behaviors, and have served as important study systems in ethology for decades. However, because they are not genetically tractable, researchers have not been able to study these behaviors at the level of brain circuitry with cutting-edge neurogenetic tools. The proposed work will pioneer such tools in the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi, a species that uniquely combines experimental amenability with the fascinating behavior of social insects. It will then address an important biological question: how does variation in neural responsiveness give rise to consistent differences in how individuals respond to social and environmental stimuli? O. biroi is particularly suitable to study this question for a number of reasons. First, the ants reproduce asexually and clonally, implying that behavioral differences arise from phenotypic plasticity, rather than genetic differences. Second, unlike in conventional model systems like Drosophila or mice, differences in behavioral propensities are adaptive because they give rise to stable division of labor in a colony context. Accordingly, these differences are robust and predictable, and they have received a lot of theoretical and empirical attention at the behavioral level. Given that ants communicate almost exclusively via pheromones, we will focus on the antennal lobe, the primary processing area of chemosensory information in the insect brain, analogous to the mammalian olfactory bulb. In Aim 1, we will generate transgenic lines expressing the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP in the antennal lobe to enable live imaging of neural activity with two-photon microscopy. We will also generate lines expressing the photoactivatable fluorescent protein CaMPARI2, enabling stable labeling of neurons active in freely behaving animals. In Aim 2, we will use these tools to create a functionally annotated map of chemosensory representation in the ant antennal lobe. We will also use single-cell RNA-sequencing of labelled neurons to identify odorant receptors responding to pheromones. We will then use the promoters of these receptors to generate additional, narrowly targeted transgenic lines. In Aim 3, we will study how differences in neural representation and sensitivity correlate with plastic differences in behavioral responses to identical social stimuli. Based on these data, we will build a predictive theoretical model of division of labor in insect societies. On a fundamental level, our results on the modulation of sensory perception will also inform our understanding of human disorders involving abnormal sensory sensitivity, such as autism and schizophrenia. Finally, we will make the tools and protocols developed under this proposal available to the scientific community, greatly advancing the field of social insect neuroscience and opening up a vast new experimental space. The robust and expansive behavioral repertoire of social insects combined with the simplicity of a compact invertebrate nervous system allows O. biroi to fill an important niche in neuroscience.

项目总结 群居昆虫表现出强大而复杂的行为，是行为学中重要的研究系统 几十年来。然而，由于它们在基因上不容易驯化，研究人员还无法研究 这些行为在大脑回路水平上使用尖端的神经遗传学工具。拟议的工作将 在克隆袭击者蚂蚁Ooceraea biroi中率先使用这种工具，Ooceraea biroi是一种独特的结合了实验数据的物种 与群居昆虫迷人的行为相适应。然后，它将解决一个重要的生物学问题： 神经反应性的差异如何导致个体对 社会和环境的刺激？O.biroi特别适合研究这一问题，原因有很多。 首先，蚂蚁无性繁殖和无性繁殖，这意味着行为差异源于表型 可塑性，而不是遗传差异。第二，与传统的模型系统不同，如果蝇或 在老鼠身上，行为倾向的差异是适应性的，因为它们可以在 殖民地背景。因此，这些差异是稳健和可预测的，它们已经收到了许多 在行为层面上的理论和经验关注。鉴于蚂蚁几乎完全通过 信息素，我们将集中在触角叶，化学感觉信息的主要处理区域 昆虫的大脑，类似于哺乳动物的嗅球。在目标1中，我们将产生转基因株系 在触角叶中表达基因编码的钙指示剂GCaMP以实现对 用双光子显微镜观察神经活动。我们还将生成表示可光激活的线条 荧光蛋白CaMPARI2，能够稳定地标记自由行为动物中活跃的神经元。在目标2中， 我们将使用这些工具来创建蚂蚁中化学感觉表示的功能注释地图 触角叶。我们还将使用标记神经元的单细胞rna测序来识别气味受体。 对信息素做出反应。然后我们将使用这些受体的启动子来产生额外的，狭义的 靶向转基因品系。在目标3中，我们将研究神经表征和敏感性的差异 与对相同社会刺激的行为反应的可塑性差异有关。根据这些数据，我们 将建立昆虫社会分工的预测性理论模型。从根本上讲，我们的 有关感官知觉调节的结果也将有助于我们对人类疾病的理解 涉及异常感官敏感症，如自闭症和精神分裂症。最后，我们将制作工具和 根据这一提议制定的方案可供科学界使用，大大推动了 社会昆虫神经科学开辟了广阔的新实验空间。健壮而又张扬的 群居昆虫的行为特征与紧凑的无脊椎动物神经系统的简单性相结合 使O.biroi填补了神经科学中一个重要的利基领域。