CAREER: The integrative neurobiology of species recognition

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。物种识别是一种动物区分自己物种的同种成员和其他密切相关的物种异种的过程。虽然从生态学和进化论的角度对物种识别进行了很好的研究，但对其机制的研究还很少。研究人员将使用一种新的哺乳动物模型--阿尔斯顿会唱歌的老鼠--从这些不同的角度研究物种识别。本项目的研究目的是：1)考察两只关系密切的鸣唱小鼠之间的相互作用，测试物种间个体和种群水平的相互作用如何影响小鼠对异种歌唱的反应。2)研究物种识别的神经回路。研究人员将测量与人类语言有关的Foxp2基因是否在相同的神经元中表达，这些神经元被同种歌曲激活。在最终的研究目标(3)中，研究人员将操纵Foxp2在感觉和听觉结构中的表达。这将使研究人员能够了解Foxp2如何(以及是否)以一种可能有助于我们理解人类语音的方式对老鼠叫声的感觉和动机处理做出贡献。由于这些老鼠非常有魅力，研究人员将在针对不同学生群体的教育材料中使用由此产生的数据。在本科教育方面，研究成果将与几项新技术(基于短信的个人回复系统、在线学习模块和同行评议写作软件)相结合，用于开发创新的新课程内容。最后，研究数据将被纳入我们正在开发的一系列学习模块中，以供基于探究的合作教育的科学伙伴使用，这是一个针对表现不佳的中学的外展项目，少数民族入学率较高。这一项目承诺进一步加深我们对社会行为的理解，同时简化将新发现纳入普通公众教育的过程。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Species recognition is the process by which an animal distinguishes between members of its own species, conspecifics, from other closely related species, heterospecifics. Although species recognition has been well studied from ecological and evolutionary perspectives, there has been little work on its mechanisms. The investigators will study species recognition from these diverse perspectives using a novel mammalian model, Alston's singing mouse. The research aims in this project are 1) To examine interactions between two closely related singing mice, testing how individual and population-level interactions between species shape the responses of mice to heterospecific songs. 2) To examine the neural circuitry underlying species recognition. The investigators will measure whether Foxp2, a gene implicated in human language, is expressed in the same neurons that are activated by conspecific song. In the final research aim (3), the investigators will manipulate Foxp2 expression in both sensory and auditory structures. This will enable the investigators to understand how (and if) Foxp2 contributes to sensory and motivational processing of mouse song in a way that might inform our understanding of human speech. Because the mice are remarkably charismatic, the investigators will use the resulting data in educational materials targeting diverse groups of students. In the context of undergraduate education the research findings in combination with several new technologies (personal response systems based on text-messaging, online learning modules, and peer-reviewed writing software) will be used to develop innovative new course content. And lastly, the research data will be incorporated into a series of learning modules we are developing for use in Science Partners in Inquiry-based Collaborative Education, an outreach program that targets underperforming middle schools with high minority enrollments. Together this project promises to further our understanding of social behavior while streamlining the incorporation of new findings into the education of the general public.