Mechanisms of Chemical Defense

在动物或植物的行为和生态学中，有一些案例是通过化学防御系统来击退捕食者，有时是通过影响捕食者的化学感官接收。人们对这种防御的神经机制知之甚少，特别是一个被捕食物种如何防御具有不同感觉系统和行为的多个捕食性物种。海兔海兔是一种与蜗牛有关的无壳海洋软体动物，显然有两个化学防御系统，可以抵御龙虾、海葵和硬骨鱼这三种捕食者。这个项目使用了生化、电生理、行为和生态学方法的创新组合，而且动物已经足够知名，分子方法在未来是可能的。防御性化合物将被分离出来，实验将在各种替代机制中测试这些防御性化合物如何对三种截然不同的潜在捕食者发挥作用。研究结果将有助于在感觉神经生物学的背景下理解防御行为的一个重要机制。这项工作的影响从神经科学延伸到海洋生态学、比较生理学和生物化学。此外，更广泛的影响包括在一个实验室进行大量的本科生培训，该实验室在将教育、培训与研究相结合方面有着良好的历史，并纳入了服务不足的群体的成员。

There are cases in behavior and ecology of animals or plants repelling predators by chemical defense systems, sometimes by affecting the chemosensory reception of predators. Not much is known about the neural mechanisms by which such defenses work, and in particular how a single prey species may defend itself against more than one predatory species with divergent sensory systems and behaviors. The sea hare Aplysia is a shell-less marine mollusk related to snails, and apparently has two chemical defense systems that work against three kinds of predators, which are lobsters, sea anemones, and teleost fish. This project uses an innovative combination of biochemical, electrophysiological, behavioral and ecological approaches, and the animal is well known enough that molecular approaches are possible in the future. The defensive compounds will be isolated, and experiments will test among alternative mechanisms how these defensive compounds exert their effects on the three very different potential predators. Results will help understand an important mechanism of defensive behavior in the context of sensory neurobiology. The impact of this work extends beyond neuroscience to marine ecology, comparative physiology and biochemistry. In addition, the broader impacts include substantial undergraduate training in a lab with an excellent history of integrating education and training with research, and of including members of under-served groups.