Encoding Knowledge in the Genome

婴儿天生就被类似人脸的物体所吸引，这表明他们“知道”人脸是什么样子的 却从未见过基因组如何编码组装神经回路的指令 天生就能识别特定的复杂模式，比如人脸？模式识别对于许多 人类行为和识别能力的缺陷与许多疾病有关（例如， 面孔失认症、自闭症谱系障碍、不同的神经变性疾病、近期中风）。 了解指定先天识别回路发展的遗传特征， 为治疗模式识别障碍提供了新的途径。目前，这样一个详细的链接 基因组和神经回路之间的规范仍然是一个基本的谜在交叉点 基因组学、神经科学和行为学的结合。为了阐明这个问题，我们需要确定基因组是如何 编码神经回路，天生识别特定的复杂模式，不同于一个 缺乏相同识别能力的祖先。这是一个主要的障碍，因为大多数的例子， 与生俱来的模式识别能力，如灵长类动物的面部识别能力，往往是在进化上古老的 因此很难进行基因解剖。目前的工作建议研究遗传 这些变化使一种独特的纸黄蜂具有了新的面部识别能力。的 一种叫Polistes fuscatus的纸黄蜂，有着高度可变的面部模式，它们用来识别个体 在它们的小社会中筑巢。像人类一样，面孔对这些黄蜂来说是特殊的刺激， 近缘的姐妹物种缺乏专门的面部处理。剖析最近的遗传基础 在P.fuscatus的先天识别的进化是可能的，因为它的显着低的遗传 与亲属的分歧，高重组率和小基因组大小，这都有助于 识别编码电路特异性的特定遗传变化。相对简单的大脑 黄蜂进一步协助这项任务。这些研究将使用面部选择性神经元的成像， 物种内和物种间的比较发育转录组学和比较基因组学， 破译参与组装识别特定复杂模式的电路的遗传元件。 这种全基因组的方法将提供一个公正的观点的基因座参与指定电路 发育和基因组特征编码电路中的信息。此外，拟议的工作 将开发这种独特的黄蜂物种作为基因组学的强大无脊椎动物模型， 复杂的神经生物学，个体差异化的社会行为，在昆虫中很少见，但 脊椎动物和人类社会的基石最重要的是，这项研究将 有助于更深入和更丰富地了解基因组如何编码神经回路的设计， 具体的识别任务。

Infants are innately attracted to face-like objects, suggesting that they ‘know’ what a face looks like without ever having seen one. How does the genome encode instructions for assembling neural circuits that innately recognize specific complex patterns, such as a face? Pattern recognition is critical for much of human behavior and deficits in recognition abilities are associated with numerous disorders (e.g. prosopagnosia, autism spectrum disorder, different neurodegenerative diseases, recent stroke). Understanding the genetic features that specify the development of innate recognition circuits will provide new avenues for treatments of pattern recognition disorders. Presently, such a detailed link between the genome and neural circuit specification remains a fundamental mystery at the intersection of genomics, neuroscience and behavior. To shed light on the problem we need to identify how a genome that encodes neural circuits, which innately recognizing a specific complex pattern, differs from an ancestor that lacked the same recognition abilities. This presents a major hurdle as most examples of innate pattern recognition abilities, such as face recognition in primates, tend to be evolutionarily ancient and as a result very difficult to genetically dissect. The present work proposes to study the genetic changes that have given rise to novel facial recognition abilities in a unique species of paper wasp. The paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, has highly variable facial patterns that they use to recognize individual nestmates within their small societies. Like humans, faces are special stimuli for these wasps, but their closely related sister species lack specialized facial processing. Dissecting the genetic basis of the recent evolution of innate recognition of faces in P. fuscatus is possible because of its remarkably low genetic divergence with relatives, high recombination rates and small genome size which all facilitate identification of specific genetic changes that encode circuit specificity. The relatively simple brains of wasps further aid the task. The studies will use a combination of imaging of face-selective neurons, comparative developmental transcriptomics within and between species and comparative genomics to decipher the genetic elements involved in assembling circuits that recognize a specific complex pattern. This genome-wide approach will provide an unbiased view of the of loci involved in specifying circuit development and the genomic features encoding information in circuits. Additionally, the proposed work will develop this unique species of wasp as a powerful invertebrate model for the genomics and neurobiology of complex, individually-differentiated social behaviors that are rare among insects but are the cornerstone of vertebrate and human societies. Most importantly, however, this research will contribute to a deeper and richer understanding of how genomes encode the design of neural circuits for specific recognition tasks.