Neurogenetic basis of social space determination

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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.