Genomic mechanisms of violent juvenile aggression

儿童中的暴力攻击行为会给肇事者、受害者及其家人带来终身后果， 和社会。然而，青少年攻击性的生物学基础在很大程度上仍然不为人知。这种知识上的鸿沟 由于缺乏易于观察和操纵青少年攻击行为的易于处理的模式，这种现象依然存在。 拟议的项目采用创新的综合方法来解决这一紧迫的知识差距，方法是 新的动物模型。除了经典鱼类和两栖动物模型的实验可控性外，毒蛙 青少年具有高度的攻击性，这为了解青少年的基因组基础提供了一个强有力的机会。 攻击性。我们检验了中心假说，即不同的机制调节了急性行为， 攻击性体验的倾向和后果。我们进行了两项互补的研究 指导：(1)揭示攻击性中个体差异和发展变化的机制基础； 以及(2)探索攻击性经历对施暴者和施暴者的基因组和行为后果 受害者。为了优化风险和回报，我们从多个角度解决这些问题，结合无偏见， 探索性方法，描述和操纵对社会具有重要意义的规范候选人 脊椎动物的行为，包括人类。攻击性的经历具有持久的个体和 社会后果和机械论研究将通过阐明原因产生重大的积极影响， 对我们社会最年轻成员的暴力侵犯行为的后果和可能的治疗方法。

Violent aggressive behavior in children has life-long consequences for perpetrators, victims, their families, and society. Yet the biological bases of juvenile aggression remain largely unknown. This gap in knowledge persists due to a lack of tractable models in which juvenile aggression can be readily observed and manipulated. The proposed project takes an innovative, integrative approach to address this pressing knowledge gap using a novel animal model. Alongside the experimental tractability of classic fish and amphibian models, poison frog juveniles are highly aggressive, providing a powerful opportunity to understand the genomic bases of juvenile aggression. We test the central hypothesis that distinct mechanisms mediate the acute performance of, propensity for, and consequences of aggressive experiences. We pursue two complementary research directions to (1) uncover the mechanistic bases of individual variation and developmental shifts in aggression, and (2) probe the genomic and behavioral consequences of aggressive experiences for both perpetrators and victims. To optimize risk and reward, we tackle these questions from multiple angles, combining unbiased, exploratory approaches with characterization and manipulation of canonical candidates important for social behavior across vertebrates, including humans. Experiences of aggression have long-lasting individual and societal consequences and mechanistic research will have a significant positive impact by illuminating causes, consequences, and potential treatments for violent aggression among the youngest members of our society.