Gene expression and signal classification in the auditory system of bats

蝙蝠听觉系统的基因表达和信号分类

• 批准号: 7290298
• 负责人: Karla Villosillo Melendez
• 金额: $ 3.95万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7290298
• 关键词: Advertising; Algorithms; Area; Auditory; Auditory system; Back; Behavioral; Biological Markers; Birds; Brain; Chiroptera; Class; Classification; Communication; Complex; Darkness; Disease regression; Echolocation; Exposure to; Frequencies; Gene Expression; Goals; Human; Immediate-Early Genes; In Situ Hybridization; Individual; Light; Manuals; Messenger RNA; Midbrain structure; Mothers; Noise; Play; Principal Component Analysis; Process; Rana; Signal Transduction; Social Interaction; Songbirds; Speech Sound; Structure; Study models; System; Testing; Time; Trees; base; computerized data processing; feeding; novel; relating to nervous system; response; sonar; sound; speech processing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have exquisite ability to echolocate; they can utilize their sonar system to navigate, and detect, identify, locate and track prey, in darkness. Their echolocation signals have been studied in detail but their communication calls are less well characterized despite the widespread use during their social interactions, e.g. in mother-young interactions, and in defending or advertising feeding areas. The goals of this study are to characterize, and determine the behavioral relevance of, sound communication signals of little brown bats, as well as to investigate the anatomical substrates for processing of these calls. The communication calls of M. lucifugus will be recorded from individual bats overnight, and an automatic classification algorithm will be developed to objectively classify the recorded calls. To study the anatomical structures involved in processing of the communication signals, the immediate early gene ZENK (zif268, egr1, NGFI-A, krox-24) will be used as a molecular marker for brain activation. In songbirds, after exposure to the bird's own songs or conspecific songs (i.e., songs within their species), ZENK is upregulated in specific brain areas involved in processing of these songs. A recent study in frogs also showed that ZENK displays call-dependent activation in isolated regions of the frog auditory midbrain. These studies demonstrate that ZENK can be used to elucidate the anatomical substrates of processing of communication signals. To determine the behavioral relevance of each call type, individual calls will be played back to a bat, and the bat's response investigated audio-visually. The bat auditory system has served as a useful model for studying speech processing (due to the similarities in sound features between bat's echolocation [and communication] calls and human speech sounds, and in structural and functional organizations of their auditory systems). The proposed study would shed light on the neural processing of complex natural sounds.

描述（申请人提供）：小棕蝠（Myotis lucifugus）具有精湛的回声定位能力；它们可以利用声纳系统在黑暗中导航、探测、识别、定位和跟踪猎物。人们对它们的回声定位信号进行了详细研究，但尽管它们在社交互动中广泛使用，但它们的通信呼叫的特征还不太清楚。在母亲与孩子的互动中，以及在保护或广告喂养区域中。这项研究的目的是表征小棕蝠的声音通信信号并确定其行为相关性，并研究处理这些呼叫的解剖学基础。我们将连夜记录蝙蝠个体的通讯叫声，并开发自动分类算法，对记录的叫声进行客观分类。为了研究通信信号处理所涉及的解剖结构，立即早期基因 ZENK（zif268、egr1、NGFI-A、krox-24）将被用作大脑激活的分子标记。在鸣禽中，在接触鸟类自己的歌曲或同种歌曲（即其物种内的歌曲）后，ZENK 在参与处理这些歌曲的特定大脑区域中上调。最近对青蛙的一项研究还表明，ZENK 在青蛙听觉中脑的孤立区域显示出呼叫依赖性激活。这些研究表明 ZENK 可用于阐明通信信号处理的解剖学基础。为了确定每种叫声类型的行为相关性，将向蝙蝠回放各个叫声，并通过视听方式研究蝙蝠的反应。蝙蝠听觉系统已成为研究语音处理的有用模型（由于蝙蝠的回声定位[和通信]呼叫与人类语音之间的声音特征以及其听觉系统的结构和功能组织之间的相似性）。拟议的研究将揭示复杂自然声音的神经处理。