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Dissecting the neural networks underlying female sexual behavior

剖析女性性行为背后的神经网络

基本信息

批准号：
BB/I021817/1
负责人：
Stephen Goodwin
金额：
$ 78.19万
依托单位：
University of Oxford
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FI021817%2F1
关键词：
Dissecting neural networks underlying female

项目摘要

What are the universal genetic, developmental, and neural mechanisms that underlie complex behaviours in any organism? Understanding this requires a model system that is both genetically and behaviourally tractable. Much of the recent progress in understanding how genes can influence behaviour has come from the study of innate behaviours in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In particular, the elaborate courtship ritual performed by the male fly has provided remarkable insights into how the neural circuitry underlying sexual behaviour - which is largely innate in flies - is built into the nervous system during development, and how this circuitry functions in the adult. While male courtship behaviour has been characterized in great detail, the female role has been largely ignored, thus little is known about the specific neuronal substrates mediating female sexual behaviour. During courtship, females appear superficially passive but exhibit subtle behaviours associated with mate choice. We are interested in finding the neural circuits in the female brain that must integrate her senses, and decide between the alternative actions of acceptance or rejection of the male. We are using molecular-genetic and behavioural approaches in the fruit fly to understand how the female makes her mate choice. The molecular pathways we investigate are highly conserved, and understanding the neuronal events underlying simple behavioural choices, may provide new insights in decision-making in higher animals. In addition to these benefits, understanding behavioural choices has potential commercial and medical relevance, particularly for the development of new approaches for controlling the reproductive or host-seeking behaviours of various agricultural pests and human disease vectors.

在任何生物体中，构成复杂行为基础的普遍遗传、发育和神经机制是什么？要理解这一点，需要一个在遗传和行为上都易于处理的模型系统。最近在理解基因如何影响行为方面的进展，大部分来自对果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）先天行为的研究。特别是，雄蝇进行的精心制作的求偶仪式为我们提供了一个引人注目的视角，让我们了解性行为背后的神经回路--这在很大程度上是果蝇天生的--是如何在发育过程中内置到神经系统中的，以及这种回路在成年果蝇中是如何发挥作用的。虽然男性求偶行为的特点是非常详细的，女性的作用在很大程度上被忽视，因此很少有人知道的特定的神经基质介导女性的性行为。在求偶过程中，雌性表面上看起来很被动，但表现出与择偶有关的微妙行为。我们感兴趣的是找到女性大脑中的神经回路，这些神经回路必须整合她的感官，并决定接受或拒绝男性的替代行动。我们正在使用分子遗传学和行为学方法研究果蝇，以了解雌性果蝇如何选择配偶。我们研究的分子通路是高度保守的，了解简单行为选择背后的神经元事件，可能会为高等动物的决策提供新的见解。除了这些好处之外，了解行为选择具有潜在的商业和医学意义，特别是对于制定控制各种农业害虫和人类病媒的生殖或寻找寄主行为的新方法。