Genes Underlying Reproductive Behavior and Physiology

生殖行为和生理学背后的基因

• 批准号: 8690893
• 负责人: MICHELLE N ARBEITMAN
• 金额: $ 27.48万
• 依托单位: FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8690893
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Animals; Applications Grants; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Assay; Biological Assay; Biological Metamorphosis; Biological Models; Brain; Cell Separation; Cells; Cellular Morphology; Complex; Coupled; Courtship; Detection; Development; Drosophila genus; Drosophila melanogaster; Ecdysone; Environment; Enzymes; Female; Foundations; Genes; Genetic; Genetic Determinism; Genomics; Growth; Human; Knowledge; Learning; Link; Maintenance; Measures; Mediating; Memory; Messenger RNA; Modeling; Modification; Molecular; Molecular Genetics; Morphology; Motor output; Nervous system structure; Neurons; Neurophysiology - biologic function; Nutritional; Organism; Outcome; Output; Pattern; Performance; Physiological; Physiology; Population; Production; RNA Interference; RNA Splicing; Reproductive Behavior; Reproductive Physiology; Research; Role; Signal Pathway; Specific qualifier value; Staging; Steroids; Structure; Synapses; System; Testing; Toxoplasma gondii; Training; Transgenes; Uracil phosphoribosyltransferase; Work; base; cDNA Library; cellular imaging; conditioning; dimorphism; ecdysone receptor; experience; frontier; genetic analysis; genetic manipulation; insight; interest; long term memory; mRNA Precursor; mRNA tagging; male; neural circuit; neurodevelopment; new technology; relating to nervous system; reproductive; sex; sex determination; sexual dimorphism; tool; transcription factor

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Complex behaviors require that an animal can sense the external environment, integrate information and respond with the appropriate motor output. Therefore, understanding how complex behaviors are specified requires an integrated understanding of the development of the neural circuits that underlie these behaviors, as well as how physiological changes direct the adult behavioral output. Drosophila melanogaster has been a premiere model system for the study of the genetic basis of neural development and more recently for the genetic basis of complex behavior. Sophisticated molecular-genetic tools, coupled with cell imaging approaches are available for the study of Drosophila behavior and neural development. Furthermore, there is knowledge of the genetic determinants of some complex behaviors, including those that specify the neural substrates necessary for reproductive behaviors. Drosophila male courtship behaviors are genetically specified behaviors that are downstream of the sex determination hierarchy, a pre-mRNA splicing cascade that culminates in the production of sex-specific transcription factors encoded by fruitless and doublesex. Molecular-genetic studies have shown that fruitless is both necessary and sufficient for nearly all aspects of male courtship behaviors. The neurons in which the male-specific products of fruitless are expressed have been identified and shown to underlie the capacity for male courtship behaviors. This confluence of knowledge of male-specific transcription factors that specify behaviors, the identification of the neural circuit important for the behavior and the sophisticated molecular-genetic tools available for Drosophila genomic and cell imaging studies provides an unprecedented opportunity to gain insight into complex behaviors. The aims of this grant proposal are to study how sexual dimorphism in the nervous system is specified during development and how experience-dependent changes are encoded into the nervous system at adult stages. These studies will provide a foundation for understanding the genetic basis of behaviors in other animals, including humans.

描述（由申请人提供）：复杂的行为要求动物能够感知外部环境，整合信息并以适当的运动输出做出反应。因此，理解复杂行为是如何被指定的，需要对这些行为背后的神经回路的发展以及生理变化如何指导成人行为输出的综合理解。黑腹果蝇是研究神经发育遗传基础和复杂行为遗传基础的首选模型系统。先进的分子遗传学工具，加上细胞成像方法可用于研究果蝇的行为和神经发育。此外，还有一些复杂行为的遗传决定因素的知识，包括那些指定生殖行为所需的神经基质。果蝇雄性求偶行为是性别决定层次下游的遗传特异性行为，性别决定层次是一个前mRNA剪接级联，最终产生由无结果和doubletex编码的性别特异性转录因子。分子遗传学研究表明，雄性求偶行为的几乎所有方面都需要无果。其中表达雄性特有的fruitless产物的神经元已经被鉴定出来，并被证明是雄性求偶行为能力的基础。这种知识的汇合男性特定的转录因子，指定的行为，神经回路的识别重要的行为和复杂的分子遗传学工具，可用于果蝇基因组和细胞成像研究提供了前所未有的机会，以深入了解复杂的行为。这项拨款提案的目的是研究神经系统中的性二态性在发育过程中是如何被指定的，以及经验依赖性的变化是如何在成年阶段被编码到神经系统中的。这些研究将为理解包括人类在内的其他动物行为的遗传基础提供基础。