A Genomic Study of Sex-Role and Social Dominance

描述（由申请人提供）：这个项目的目标是确定大脑中不同性行为背后的遗传机制。通过结合斑马鱼的遗传模型和进化上令人着迷的非洲鲷鱼，该项目将通过确定不同物种的不同性行为的遗传机制在多大程度上是通过保守进化或趋同进化产生的，来解决进化背景下行为的遗传基础。我将利用斑马鱼基因组的功能注释，利用生物信息学技术的全部力量，在成年和幼虫的大脑中识别性别特异性基因。这些信息将使我能够扩大实验和分析的广度，以研究慈鲷的性别角色行为和优势。除了进化意义之外，这些研究将通过功能分析进一步验证假设。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to identify genetic mechanisms in the brain that underlie different sexual behaviors. Through the combined use of the genetic model zebrafish and the evolutionarily fascinating African cichlid fishes, this project will address the genetic basis of behavior in the context of evolution by determining to what extent the genetic mechanisms of different sexual behaviors in different species have arisen through conserved or convergent evolution. I will identify sex-specific genes in the adult and larval brain using zebrafish to take advantage of the functional annotations of the genome and apply the full force of bioinformatics techniques. This information will allow me to expand the breadth of experimentation and analysis for the study of sex-role behavior and dominance in the cichlids. In addition to evolutionary implications, these studies will inform further hypotheses to be tested through functional analysis.