Integrative biology of social cognition -- avpr1a, memory and alternative male tactics

在这项拟议的研究中，研究人员使用一个研究得很好的模型--一夫一妻制的草原田鼠--来理解DNA变异、大脑变异、社会认知和自然选择之间的联系。尽管草原田鼠是一夫一妻制的，但在雄性漫游的范围和它们对伴侣的忠诚度方面存在很大的差异。众所周知，社会行为受到荷尔蒙加压素通过作用于其受体V1aR的影响；男性对配偶的忠诚度与大脑特定部分--脾后皮质(RSC)中V1aR的丰度有关，后者在空间记忆中也是至关重要的。该提案询问了个体在基因、神经元基因表达和社会认知方面的差异如何与进化力量相互作用来解释行为多样性。具体地说，研究人员询问，依赖密度的选择是否维持了基因、脾后皮质V1aR和社会认知的个体差异。这些实验将确定自然环境是否会促进社交大脑的多样性。这项拟议的工作深化和扩展了关于草原田鼠一夫一妻制的研究叙事，这一叙事在生物学、动物行为和行为神经内分泌学入门课程的教科书中得到了很好的覆盖。对遗传学、神经生物学、记忆力和适应性的平行检查将提供一幅特别完整的图景，说明进化和机械力量如何相互作用，塑造野生动物的行为。研究人员将通过开发一个博客来加强正在进行的外展活动，该博客专注于对动物行为、其机制及其进化的综合研究。该博客将加强培训，为研究生提供磨练沟通技能的机会，并生成可供广大受众访问的内容。它将通过现有的少数群体科学家网络积极招募读者和作家，从而深化代表不足群体的参与；它将促进通过社交媒体传播研究成果；它将为科学家和社会之间的非正式思想交流提供基础设施。

In the proposed research, the researchers use a well-studied model, the monogamous prairie vole, to understand the links between DNA variation, brain variation, social cognition and natural selection. Although prairie voles are monogamous, there is substantial variation in how widely males roam and in how faithful they are to a partner. Social behavior is widely known to influenced by the hormone vasopressin through actions on its receptor, V1aR; male mate fidelity is linked to V1aR abundance in specific parts of the brain known as the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) which is also critical in spatial memory. The proposal asks how individual differences in genotype, neuronal gene expression and social cognition interact with evolutionary forces to explain behavioral diversity. Specifically, the investigators ask whether individual differences in genotype, V1aR in the retropsplenial cortex and social cognition are maintained by density-dependent selection. These experiments will determine whether natural environments promote diversity in the social brain. The proposed work deepens and extends a research narrative on prairie vole monogamy that is well covered in textbooks for introductory biology, animal behavior and behavioral neuroendocrinology courses. The parallel examination of genetics, neurobiology, memory and fitness would provide a particularly complete picture of how evolutionary and mechanistic forces interact to shape animal behavior in the wild. The researchers will augment ongoing outreach activities with the development of a blog focused on the integrative study of animal behavior, its mechanisms and their evolution. The blog will enhance training by providing an opportunity for graduate students to hone communication skills, and by generating content accessible to a broad audience. It will deepen participation of under-represented groups by actively recruiting readers and writers through existing networks of minority scientists; it will facilitate the dissemination research findings through social media; and it will provide an infrastructure for the informal exchange of ideas among scientists and society.