Neurogenetic basis of social space determination

社会互动对个体的正常发育和健康至关重要，但人们对社会行为的遗传和神经基础仍然知之甚少。我感兴趣的是确定动物对另一个相似个体的存在做出反应的神经遗传机制，从感知到整合和决策：社会互动的基本机制是什么？我对这个问题做出了重大贡献，在醋蝇黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）中，通过研究在任何其他更复杂的社会互动之前发生的行为：与最近邻居的距离，或社会间距。我最近的研究表明，中枢神经系统是如何决定间隔的神经通路。一种性别特异性神经回路正在成为社会空间的调节器。它涉及多巴胺能信号和蘑菇体。在突触水平上，我的团队将与人类神经发育障碍相关的基因（如神经海滩蛋白，一种锚蛋白，神经连接蛋白，一种细胞粘附蛋白和FoxP，一种高度保守的转录因子）与果蝇的社会空间决定有关。在接下来的五年里，我们将使用社会空间分析与神经操作相结合，以研究已识别的以及新的大脑结构在社会空间中的作用。我们将回答以下问题：哪些神经元输入和输出到蘑菇体是重要的社会间距？哪些大脑结构是重要的？除了多巴胺，还有哪些神经递质影响着社会行为？它们调节的下游神经通路是什么？是什么决定了我们观察到的性别效应？在研究生和本科生的帮助下，我们将绘制对附近另一只苍蝇的基本（非性和非攻击性）反应的中枢神经基质。 这项工作不仅与果蝇行为的研究有关，而且与其他生物的社会行为遗传学有关。事实上，至于最初在果蝇中解剖的其他行为--学习和记忆、昼夜节律--社会行为的细胞和分子基础可能通过进化，通过前社会物种到真社会物种的分子“工具包”形式得到保存。由于我开发的检测方法易于掌握，参与这项新研究计划的学生将迅速成为生物化学，神经学和遗传学技能方面的专家，这些技能在学术界，政府和行业研究中非常受欢迎。学生将能够以有意义的方式对科学知识做出贡献，并将有一个平台来发展他们在研究或其他技术领域从事职业的兴趣。我计划培养大约4名硕士，5名博士和20名本科生。

Social interactions are crucial to the proper development and health of individuals, but the genetic and neural bases of social behavior are still poorly understood. I am interested in determining the neurogenetic mechanisms by which animals respond to the presence of another similar individual, from perception to integration and decision making: What are the fundamental mechanisms underlying social interactions? I have made significant contributions to this question, in the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster, through the study of a behaviour that occurs prior to any other more complex social interactions: the distance to the closest neighbour, or social spacing. My recent work suggests a neural pathway for how the central nervous system is underlying the decision process of spacing. A sex specific neural circuit is emerging as a modulator of social spacing. It involves dopaminergic signalling and the mushroom bodies. At the synaptic level, my team implicated genes associated with human neurodevelopmental disorders (such as Neurobeachin, an anchor protein, Neuroligin, a cell adhesion protein and FoxP, a highly conserved transcription factor) in the social spacing decision of the flies. Over the next five years, we will use social spacing assays in combination with neural manipulations to investigate the role of identified, as well as new brain structures, in social spacing. We will answer the following questions: Which neuronal input and output to the mushroom body are important for social spacing? Which other brain structures are important? Which neurotransmitters beyond dopamine are influencing social behaviour? What are the downstream neural pathways that they modulate? What determines the sex-effect we observed? With the help of graduate and undergraduate students, we will map of the central brain neural substrate underlying basic (non-sexual and non-aggressive) response to another nearby fly. This work will be relevant not only to studies of Drosophila behaviour, but also to genetics of social behaviour in other organisms. Indeed, as for other behaviours initially dissected in Drosophila - learning and memory, circadian rhythm - the cellular and molecular basis of social behaviour might be conserved through evolution, through pre-social to eu-social species in the form of a molecular "tool kit". As the assays that I developed are easy to master, the students working on this new research program will become experts rapidly in biochemical, neurological, and genetic skills that are highly desirable in academia, government and industry research. The students will be able to contribute in a meaningful way to scientific knowledge and will have a platform to develop their interests in pursuing a career in research or other technical fields. I plan on training approximately 4 MSc, 5 PhD and twenty undergraduate students.