Probing the Role of Glia in Neuronal Function and Behavior in Drosophila

这项研究的主要潜在好处是帮助理解脑细胞(即神经元和神经胶质细胞)如何协同工作来产生行为。研究人员将使用基因技术识别苍蝇大脑中的小胶质细胞群，并进行实验以确定它们如何调节苍蝇的运动。与人类相比，苍蝇的大脑细胞较少，很容易被操纵。由于果蝇与其他动物有着相似的基因和脑细胞结构和功能的一般原理，从这个项目中获得的见解将增加我们对包括人类在内的这些动物大脑中神经胶质功能的了解。该项目将培训学生和博士后学者，包括来自代表性不足群体的学生。研究团队将参加“大脑意识周”、“周六早晨科学”系列研讨会和其他服务于当地社区公众的活动。他们将与老师合作，在初中和高中开展苍蝇遗传学科学项目。使用一种新开发的遗传方法(FingR，FingPase诱导的交叉性Gal80/Gal4抑制)，研究人员将进行正向遗传筛选，以识别调节苍蝇运动的胶质细胞亚群，将广泛的胶质细胞细化为更小的单位，绘制胶质细胞形态图，扰乱神经胶质功能，将行为变化与特定的胶质细胞亚群关联起来，并检查胶质细胞亚群对神经元功能和形态的影响。屏幕是无偏见的，因此，将为研究特定神经胶质细胞亚群对神经元功能的影响提供前所未有的机会。这项研究的结果还将通过科学会议和发表同行评议的期刊文章来传播。

The primary potential benefit of this research is to help understand how brain cells (known as neurons and glia) work together to generate behavior. The researchers will use genetic techniques to identify small populations of glial cells in the fly brain and carry out experiments to determine how they regulate fly locomotion. Relative to humans, the fly brain has fewer cells and can be readily manipulated. Because fruit flies share similar genes and general principles of brain cell structure and function with other animals, insights gained from this project will increase our understanding of glial function in the brains of these animals, including humans. This project will train students and postdoctoral scholars, including students from underrepresented groups. The research team will participate in 'Brain Awareness Week,' a 'Saturday Morning Science' seminar series and other activities that serve the public in local communities. They will work with teachers to conduct fly genetics science projects in middle and high schools. Using a newly developed genetic method (FINGR, flippase-induced intersectional Gal80/Gal4 repression), the researchers will conduct a forward genetic screen to identify subsets of glial cells that modulate fly locomotion, refine broad glia into smaller units, map glial morphology, perturb glial function, correlate behavioral changes with specific subsets of glia, and examine the impact of the glial subset on neuronal function and morphology. The screen is unbiased, and thus, will provide unprecedented opportunities for studying the effects of specific subsets of glia on neuronal function. Results from this research will also be disseminated through scientific meetings and through publication of peer-reviewed journal articles.