Neurogenomics of Social Behavior: Songbird Models

社会行为的神经基因组学：鸣禽模型

• 批准号: 7829622
• 负责人: DAVID F CLAYTON
• 金额: $ 48.07万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-30 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7829622
• 关键词: Acute; Address; Affect; Aggressive behavior; American; Animal Model; Area; Australia; Behavior; Behavioral; Biochemical; Biology; Birds; Brain; Caring; Color; Comparative Study; Complementary DNA; Complex; Consultations; Cues; Dental crowns; Development; Documentation; Ear; Ecology; Ecosystem; Employee Strikes; Environment; Environmental Risk Factor; Experimental Models; Family; Future; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Profile; Generations; Genes; Genetic; Genome; Genomics; Goals; Habitats; Health behavior; Home environment; Individual; Investigation; Investments; Knowledge; Laboratories; Learning; Life; Link; Measures; Messenger RNA; Modeling; Nervous system structure; Neurobiology; Observational Study; Organism; Partner in relationship; Personality; Physiological; Plant Roots; Prevention; Public Health; Relative (related person); Research; Research Personnel; Resources; Seeds; Signal Transduction; Skin; Social Behavior; Songbirds; Sparrows; Study models; Techniques; Technology; Territoriality; United States National Institutes of Health; Variant; Viola; Zebra; base; brain research; comparative; cost; direct application; experience; genetic analysis; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; research study; response; social; social group; social organization; sound; tool; zebra finch

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application addresses broad Challenge Area (01) Behavior, Behavioral Change, and Prevention and specific Challenge Topic, 01-GM-102: Model organisms for social behavior studies. Songbirds offer unique untapped advantages for integrative analyses of the genetic, biochemical, physiological, and environmental components of social behavior. Songbirds have complex nervous systems and are proven models for health-related brain research. They form complex and diverse social groups, and populate most ecosystems world-wide. The genome of one songbird, the zebra finch, has now been sequenced by the NIH. There remain two main barriers to the use of songbirds to investigate mechanisms of social behavior. The overall goal of this proposal is to break down these barriers and open a path for future research using songbirds as models for social behavior. The zebra finch is a gregarious colonial species that has been domesticated and is common in labs (and homes) around the world. Wild zebra finches are difficult to study in their native habitat (Australia) but the domesticated zebra finch has proven to be an exceptional experimental model. There have been careful descriptions of sociality in wild zebra finches, and focused lab investigations on mate choice and song learning - yet a formal scientific profile of the social behavior of the domesticated zebra finch does not exist. Moreover, how individuals vary in their social behavior is unexamined. To leverage the genomic investment in the zebra, these knowledge gaps need to be filled. Aim 1 will address this first barrier by constructing an "ethogram" to describe the social behavior in a zebra finch aviary across multiple generations. Additional experiments will evaluate how stable individual variation ("personality") affects the response to an acute social challenge (song playback). Results from these studies will inform Year 2 experiments comparing socially-driven brain gene expression in different contexts and individuals. Aim 2 addresses a complementary challenge: songbird diversity offers rich opportunities to compare related species that differ in social behavior and to study accessible species in their native environments, but only zebra finch gene sequence information is currently available. To overcome this barrier and enable the application of genomic tools to comparative analyses of social behavior, brain transcriptomes will be assembled for three key species: the violet-eared waxbill - a close relative of the zebra finch; and the song and white-crowned sparrows - major foci for North American behavioral ecology. These songbirds, in combination with the zebra finch, represent pairs of related species that display striking contrasts in social behavior (levels of social aggression) and therefore have tremendous potential for development as avian models for genomic studies of social behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Many of the most important challenges for public health require a better understanding of how social factors impinge on the biology of the individual, and how variations in individuals influence social organization and function. Probing these links requires appropriate model organisms. This research aims to exploit natural advantages of songbirds as models for social behavior, leveraging recent progress with songbird neurobiology and genomics.

描述（由申请人提供）：该申请涉及广泛的挑战领域（01）行为，行为改变和预防以及特定的挑战主题，01- gm -102：社会行为研究的模式生物。鸣禽为社会行为的遗传、生化、生理和环境因素的综合分析提供了独特的尚未开发的优势。鸣禽有复杂的神经系统，是与健康有关的大脑研究的证明模型。它们形成了复杂而多样的社会群体，在世界上大多数生态系统中都有分布。一种鸣禽——斑胸草雀的基因组现在已经由美国国立卫生研究院进行了测序。利用鸣禽来研究社会行为机制仍然存在两个主要障碍。该提案的总体目标是打破这些障碍，为未来使用鸣禽作为社会行为模型的研究开辟道路。斑胸草雀是一种群居物种，已经被驯化，在世界各地的实验室（和家庭）中很常见。野生斑胸草雀很难在其原生栖息地（澳大利亚）进行研究，但驯化斑胸草雀已被证明是一个特殊的实验模型。人们对野生斑胸草雀的社会性进行了细致的描述，并对交配选择和鸣叫学习进行了集中的实验室调查，但对驯化斑胸草雀的社会行为却没有正式的科学描述。此外，个体在社会行为上的差异也没有得到研究。为了充分利用对斑马的基因组投资，需要填补这些知识空白。目的1将通过构建一个描述多代斑胸草雀鸟舍的社会行为的“族谱”来解决第一个障碍。另外的实验将评估稳定的个体变异（“个性”）如何影响对尖锐的社会挑战（歌曲回放）的反应。这些研究的结果将为二年级的实验提供信息，以比较不同背景和个体下社会驱动的大脑基因表达。Aim 2解决了一个互补的挑战：鸣禽多样性为比较不同社会行为的相关物种提供了丰富的机会，并研究了在其本地环境中可接近的物种，但目前只有斑胸草雀的基因序列信息。为了克服这一障碍，使基因组工具能够应用于社会行为的比较分析，将对三个关键物种的大脑转录组进行组装：紫耳蜡喙——斑胸草雀的近亲；以及北美行为生态学的主要焦点——歌雀和白冠麻雀。这些鸣禽与斑胸草雀一起，代表了在社会行为（社会攻击水平）上表现出显著差异的成对相关物种，因此具有巨大的发展潜力，可以作为鸟类基因组研究社会行为的模型。