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: 10676814
• 负责人: Daniel Kronauer
• 金额: $ 49.28万
• 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/10676814
• 关键词: Address; Afferent Neurons; Age; Animals; Ants; Area; Attention; Behavior; Behavioral; Behavioral Model; Biological; Biological Models; Biology; Brain; Chemicals; Clinical; Communication; Communities; Complex; Cues; Data; Development; Disease; Drosophila genus; Dyes; Electrophysiology (science); Ethology; Foundations; Future; Genetic; Head; Human; Image; Individual; Individual Differences; Individuality; Insecta; Invertebrates; Investigation; Label; Laboratories; Lobe; Maps; Microscope; Modeling; Modernization; Mus; Nervous System; Neuronal Plasticity; Neurons; Neurosciences; Odorant Receptors; Odors; Perception; Phenotype; Pheromone; Population; Proteins; Protocols documentation; Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Role; SLC25A4 gene; Schizophrenia; Sensory; Social Behavior; Societies; Specificity; Stimulus; System; Theoretical model; Transgenic Organisms; Variant; Work; asexual; autism spectrum disorder; behavioral outcome; behavioral plasticity; behavioral response; behavioral study; brain circuitry; calcium indicator; experimental study; fascinate; insight; neural; neural correlate; neurogenetics; neuroimaging; olfactory bulb; olfactory sensory neurons; predicting response; prevent; programs; promoter; receptor; response; self organization; sensory system; 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.

项目摘要 社会性昆虫具有健壮而复杂的行为，是动物行为学的重要研究系统 几十年然而，由于它们在遗传上不容易处理，研究人员无法研究 这些行为在大脑回路的水平与尖端的神经遗传学工具。拟议的工作将 克隆入侵蚁Ooceraea biroi是这种工具的先驱，这种物种独特地结合了实验性的 具有群居昆虫的迷人行为的顺从性。然后，它将解决一个重要的生物学问题： 神经反应的变化如何引起个体如何反应的一致差异？ 社会和环境刺激？O. biroi特别适合研究这个问题，原因有几个。 首先，蚂蚁无性繁殖和克隆繁殖，这意味着行为差异来自于表型差异。 可塑性，而不是遗传差异。第二，与果蝇等传统模型系统不同， 对于老鼠来说，行为倾向的差异是适应性的，因为它们在一个特定的环境中引起了稳定的劳动分工。 殖民地背景因此，这些差异是强大的和可预测的，他们已经收到了很多建议。 行为层面的理论和经验关注。鉴于蚂蚁几乎只通过 信息素，我们将集中在触角叶，化学感觉信息的主要处理区， 昆虫的大脑类似于哺乳动物的嗅球。在目标1中，我们将产生转基因品系， 在触角叶中表达遗传编码的钙指示剂GCaMP，以使得能够对 双光子显微镜下的神经活动我们还将生成表达光活化的 荧光蛋白CaMPARI2，能够稳定标记在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一个功能注释的地图，在蚂蚁的化学感受代表， 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、狭隘的 定向转基因株系。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相关。根据这些数据，我们 将建立一个昆虫社会劳动分工的预测性理论模型。从根本上讲，我们 感官知觉调节的结果也将为我们理解人类疾病提供信息。 涉及异常的感觉敏感性，如自闭症和精神分裂症。最后，我们将制作工具， 根据这一建议制定的议定书提供给科学界，大大推进了这一领域， 社会昆虫神经科学，开辟了一个广阔的新的实验空间。强大而广阔的 社会性昆虫的所有行为与无脊椎动物神经系统的简单性相结合 允许O. biroi填补了神经科学的一个重要利基。