RIG: Characterization of Serotonergic Pathways Involved in Behavioral Adaptation.

动物有能力感知、处理和回应对它们在环境中航行很重要的信号。 这些对外部信号的行为反应依赖于神经系统？的能力来检测和整合这些信号。 随着时间的推移，持续暴露于刺激导致动物减少其行为反应，这种现象称为适应。 适应对于生物体在持续存在的刺激存在下检测和响应新的、可能具有威胁性的刺激至关重要。 被称为突触的神经连接的修改被认为是适应和其他简单学习形式的基础。 关于这个过程的一个中心问题是神经系统如何修改其连接以产生这种减弱的反应。该项目的目标是确定介导适应的基因产物（蛋白质）。 该项目将利用线虫，秀丽隐杆线虫（C。elegans），一种特征良好的模式生物，用于识别参与行为的基因。 已经开发出一种测量产卵行为对长期暴露于神经递质5-羟色胺的适应的方法，该方法将用于检查适应所需的突触连接以及产生在这种产卵反应的适应中有缺陷的突变蠕虫。 分离适应缺陷的突变蠕虫将提供一种手段，以确定参与这种行为的基因。 由于血清素是一种重要的神经信号，介导的行为反应，如喂养，交配行为和侵略，这项研究可能会提供深入了解其他依赖于血清素的行为是如何通过持续刺激改变。 该项目将通过申请人对教育产生更广泛的影响？参与NSF赞助的STEP计划，该计划旨在提高学生的参与率和保留率，包括科学领域代表性不足的群体。 此外，申请人利用C. elegans在分子生物学、遗传学和神经生物学教学中的作用。

Animals have the ability to sense, process and respond to signals important for navigating their environment. These behavioral responses to external signals rely on the nervous system?s ability to detect and integrate these signals. A continued exposure to a stimulus over time results in the animal diminishing its behavioral response, a phenomenon referred to as adaptation. Adaptation is critical for an organism to detect and respond to a new, possibly threatening, stimulus while in the presence of a continuous, existing stimulus. Modification of neural connections called synapses is thought to form the basis for adaptation, and other simple forms of learning. A central question regarding this process is how the nervous system modifies its connections to produce this diminished response. The goal of this project is to identify the gene products (proteins) mediating adaptation. The project will utilize the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), a well-characterized model organism for identifying genes involved in behavior. A method for measuring adaptation of the egg-laying behavior to long-term exposure to the neurotransmitter, serotonin, has been developed and will be used to examine the synaptic connections required for adaptation as well as to generate mutant worms defective in adaptation of this egg-laying response. Isolation of mutant worms defective in adaptation will provide a means to identified genes involved in this behavior. Because serotonin is an important neural signal that mediates behavioral responses such as feeding, mating behavior and aggression, this research may provide insight into how other serotonin-dependent behaviors are altered by continual stimulation. The project will have a broader impact on education through the applicant?s participation in the NSF-sponsored STEP program, which serves to increase participation and retention of students, including under-represented groups in the sciences. In addition, the applicant utilizes research in C. elegans in teaching molecular biology, genetics and neurobiology.