Molecular Mechanisms of Social Behavior

人类多种精神障碍与不寻常的社会行为有关 到攻击性、焦虑感和从属关系。尽管这些疾病的遗传成分很好 它们的遗传是复杂的，而且往往很难确定致病基因 非常困难。然而，表型和遗传信息的增长揭示了 在这些障碍中观察到的异常行为通常代表着行为的极端目的 在普通人群中观察到的变异，表明与社会行为有关的基因 在未受影响的人群中，也会影响疾病风险和症状严重程度。以确定基因 和精神障碍中受干扰的途径，了解 哺乳动物的社会行为将提供向前迈出的关键一步。 这个项目的目标是解决从属关系、攻击性和焦虑方面的差异- 类似的行为在红狐(秃鹫)中隔离，目的是提供有价值的 对广泛的哺乳动物社会行为背后的机制的洞察，包括 人类精神障碍。这种特定的狐狸品系是在细胞学研究所和 俄罗斯科学院的遗传学(ICG)在基因上表现出明显的不同 确定的行为表型与典型和非典型人类有显著相似之处 行为。狐狸品系为社会的遗传、分子和细胞研究做好了充分的准备 并代表了一种独特的、新颖的和重要的大型动物模型。身份的鉴定 影响狐狸社会行为的分子机制有望提供新的见解 研究人类的社会行为障碍，促进人类和啮齿动物研究的整合， 从而导致潜在疗法的发展。

Multiple human psychiatric disorders are associated with unusual social behaviors related to aggression, anxiety, and affiliation. Although the genetic component of these disorders is well established, their inheritance is complex and identification of the causative genes is often extremely difficult. The growth of phenotypic and genetic information, however, revealed that unusual behaviors observed in these disorders often represent the extreme ends of behavioral variation observed in the general population, suggesting that genes implicated in social behavior in unaffected population also influence disorder risk and symptom severity. To identify the genes and pathways disturbed in psychiatric disorders, an understanding of the molecular basis of mammalian social behavior would provide a crucial step forward. The goals of this project are to resolve differences in affiliation, aggression, and anxiety- like behaviors segregating in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) with the intent of providing valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying a broad range of mammalian social behaviors, including human psychiatric disorders. The specific fox strains developed at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics (ICG) of the Russian Academy of Sciences exhibit markedly different, genetically determined behavioral phenotypes with significant parallels to typical and atypical human behaviors. The fox strains are well prepared for genetic, molecular, and cellular studies of social behavior and represent a unique, novel, and significant large animal model. The identification of molecular mechanisms influencing social behavior in foxes is expected to provide new insights into human disorders of social behavior and facilitate integration of human and rodent studies, thereby leading to the development of potential therapies.