Neurogenomics of Social Behavior: Songbird Models

描述(由申请人提供)：本申请涉及广泛的挑战领域(01)行为，行为改变，预防和特定挑战主题，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、生理和环境成分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，是与健康相关的大脑研究的成熟模型。它们形成了复杂多样的社会群体，生活在世界上大多数生态系统中。美国国立卫生研究院已经对一种名为斑马雀的鸣禽的基因组进行了测序。使用鸣禽来研究社会行为机制仍然存在两个主要障碍。这项提议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一条道路。斑马雀是一种群居的群居物种，已经被驯化，在世界各地的实验室(和家庭)中很常见。野生斑马雀很难在它们的原生栖息地(澳大利亚)进行研究，但驯化的斑马雀已被证明是一个特殊的实验模型。人们对野生斑马雀的社会性进行了仔细的描述，并对配偶选择和歌曲学习进行了集中的实验室研究--然而，关于驯化斑马雀的社会行为的正式科学描述尚不存在。此外，个人在社交行为上的变化也没有被研究过。为了利用对斑马的基因组投资，这些知识空白需要填补。目标1将通过构建一个“行为图”来解决第一个障碍，以描述斑雀鸟舍中跨越多个世代的社会行为。其他实验将评估稳定的个体差异(“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第二年的实验提供参考，这些实验比较了不同背景和不同个人中社交驱动的大脑基因表达。AIM 2解决了一个互补的挑战：鸣鸟的多样性为比较不同社会行为的相关物种和研究其本土环境中可接近的物种提供了丰富的机会，但目前只有斑马雀基因序列信息可用。为了克服这一障碍，并使基因组工具能够应用于社会行为的比较分析，将组装三个关键物种的大脑转录：紫耳蜡鸟-斑马雀的近亲；以及歌雀和白冠麻雀-北美行为生态的主要焦点。这些鸣禽与斑马雀结合在一起，代表着在社会行为(社会攻击性水平)上表现出鲜明对比的一对近缘物种，因此具有巨大的潜力，可以作为研究社会行为的基因组研究的鸟类模型。 与公共卫生的相关性：公共卫生面临的许多最重要的挑战需要更好地了解社会因素如何影响个人的生物学，以及个人的差异如何影响社会组织和功能。探索这些联系需要适当的模式生物。这项研究旨在利用鸣禽神经生物学和基因组学的最新进展，利用鸣禽作为社会行为模式的天然优势。

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.