SGER: Genetics of Social Cognition in Drosophila

该项目询问，已知的影响人类认知和社会功能的基因是否在一种简单的有机体--果蝇--中发挥类似的作用，果蝇特别适合实验。影响社会行为和认知的最显著和最特殊的人类遗传综合症是威廉姆斯综合症，这是一种由人类7号染色体上的一小部分基因异常引起的遗传病。果蝇有不同版本的威廉姆斯综合症基因。这项研究的目标是在果蝇品系中重建威廉姆斯综合征基因集(及其子集)，然后在为这种有机体制定的各种具有良好特征的认知和社会任务中测试这些品系。在果蝇身上测试这些基因的作用的价值在于，它为深入研究基因影响与社会行为相关的大脑功能的机制提供了无与伦比的潜力。这项工作将在整个特殊教育世界和整个教育领域产生反响。了解认知、社会行为及其相互作用的遗传和神经生物学基础将对我们如何教育残疾儿童以及我们如何总体构建教育产生深远影响，从而开辟出远远超出进行教育的狭隘研究领域的途径。此外，它还将为博士后研究员提供培训机会。

This project asks whether genes that are known to affect cognitive and social functions in humans exert similar effects in a simple organism, the fruit fly Drosophila, which is particularly well suited to experimentation. The most striking and specific human genetic syndrome that affects social behavior and cognition is Williams Syndrome, a genetic condition produced by abnormalities in a small slate of genes on human chromosome 7. Fruit flies have their own versions of the genes affected in Williams Syndrome. The goal of this study is to re-construct the Williams Syndrome set of genes (and subsets of it) in strains of the fruit fly, and then test these strains in a variety of well characterized cognitive and social tasks worked out for this organism. The value of testing the role of these genes in the fruit fly is that it offers unequalled potential for delving into the mechanisms through which genes affect brain functions relevant to social behavior.This work would have repercussions throughout the world of Special Education in particular, and education in general. Understanding the genetic and neurobiological bases for cognition, social behavior, and their interaction will have a profound influence on how we educate children with disabilities, as well as how we structure education in general, thus opening avenues that will ramify far outside of the narrow research field in which it is conducted. In addition, it will also provide a training opportunity for a postdoctoral research fellow.