Identifying gene pathways that underlie the structure of Drosophila social networks

识别果蝇社交网络结构背后的基因途径

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-04765
• 负责人: Levine, Joel
• 金额: $ 2.48万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746002
• 关键词: Identifying; gene; pathways; underlie; structure

One of the great challenges in modern biology is to understand how social groups arise through a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Social groups may be viewed from two perspectives. The group may appear as an entity: a beehive, mob, or a tribe, for example. Alternatively, social groups represent an environment that bestows identity, opportunity and protection to each member. Either way, social groups have structure and, until recently, little was known about their underlying neural and genetic mechanisms. The long-term objective of my research is to understand the biology of social groups. This is a central research problem in neurobehavioural biology, which requires a genetic, biochemical, physiological and behavioural approach. Recent research on sociality in the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has emphasized the role of the social environment on a wide range of phenomena, extending from how genes are expressed to mating behaviour to decision making. Adding a social biology perspective to questions across various biological fields is essential to fully understanding the biology of all organisms and promises to reveal novel insights arising from the group, as opposed to the individual. My lab's research on how genes contribute to social structure, the purpose of social networks in nature and how Drosophila social groups interpret numbers will enrich our understanding of the biology of social groups. Here, we propose three short term objectives: i) to identify genes, biochemical pathways and neural circuits required for social network structure to unfold; ii) to address the evolutionary purpose of these networks; iii) to investigate our recent observation that individual members of a network adjust their behaviour according to the number of individuals in their group. This suggests that flies are able count the number of others present in their environment and this primitive display of numeracy may contribute to more sophisticated cognitive processes involved in group decision making.

现代生物学中的一大挑战是理解社会群体是如何通过遗传和环境因素的组合而产生的。社会群体可以从两个角度来看待。群体可能以实体的形式出现：例如，蜂箱、暴徒或部落。或者，社会团体代表了一个给予每个成员身份、机会和保护的环境。无论哪种方式，社会群体都有结构，直到最近，人们对其潜在的神经和遗传机制知之甚少。我研究的长期目标是了解社会群体的生物学。这是神经行为生物学的一个中心研究问题，它需要遗传、生化、生理和行为方法。最近对醋蝇果蝇社会性的研究强调了社会环境在一系列现象中的作用，从基因如何表达到交配行为再到决策。在各个生物学领域的问题中加入社会生物学的观点，对于充分理解所有有机体的生物学是至关重要的，并有望揭示来自群体而不是个人的新见解。我的实验室对基因如何对社会结构做出贡献、自然界中社会网络的目的以及果蝇社会群体如何解读数字的研究，将丰富我们对社会群体生物学的理解。在这里，我们提出了三个短期目标：i)识别社会网络结构展开所需的基因、生化途径和神经回路；ii)解决这些网络的进化目的；iii)调查我们最近观察到的网络个体成员根据其群体中的个体数量调整他们的行为。这表明，苍蝇能够计算环境中存在的其他果蝇的数量，这种原始的算术能力可能有助于参与群体决策的更复杂的认知过程。