The Genetics of Natural Variation in Memory Retention in Nasonia

尽管学习的某些方面已经被很好地理解了，但关于物种之间学习差异所涉及的基因，或者动物一旦学习了一些东西是如何忘记的，人们知之甚少。这个项目将通过首先确定哪些基因导致纳斯尼亚(一种适合进行高效基因研究的小昆虫)中的遗忘差异，然后确定这些基因是如何发挥作用的，来研究“遗忘的遗传学”。这项工作有可能揭示与记忆有关的新基因和新机制。就像昆虫和人类一样，不同的物种共享一些相同的记忆获得和丧失的基本机制，因此这些机制可能会得到广泛应用。“遗忘”基因的发现可能会激发科学家和非科学家的想象力，因此将对科学教育做出广泛贡献。教育外展建立在与詹姆斯敦社区学院持续合作的基础上。正在努力在高中和社区大学引入使用Nasonia的研究性学习教学。昆虫纳斯尼亚属是一种易于驯化的实验室有机体，拥有一个迅速发展的研究工具箱。这些昆虫很快学会将新奇气味与寄主奖励联系在一起。然而，寄主奖励后的记忆保持在亲缘关系密切的物种之间存在很大差异。在一个令人兴奋的新发现中，含有记忆保持减少基因的基因区域已经成功地从低记忆保持物种回交到高记忆保持物种。该项目的目标是通过重组克隆记忆保持基因，确定它们的编码和顺式调控区的差异，确定它们在哪里和何时表达，以及它们是否在学习经历后调节其他记忆基因的表达，使用RNA干扰敲除来研究它们对记忆保持的影响，并确定记忆保持效应是否推广到其他学习模式(如视觉刺激、厌恶刺激)。考虑到Nasonia中可用的遗传工具，以及在克隆导致物种差异的基因方面的既定记录，该项目成功的可能性很高。数据将通过国家生物信息中心(NCBI)数据库、膜翅目数据库和在开放获取的期刊上发表。

Although some aspects of learning are well understood, little is known about the genes involved in differences in learning between species or how animals forget once they learn something. This project will investigate the "genetics of forgetting", by first determining which genes cause forgetting differences in Nasonia, a small insect suitable for efficient genetic study, and then determining how these genes function. The work has the potential to reveal new genes and mechanisms involved in memory. Species as different as insects and humans share some of the same basic mechanisms underlying memory gain and loss, so these mechanisms are likely to be broadly applicable. The discovery of genes for "forgetting" is likely to capture the imagination of both scientists and non-scientists, and will therefore contribute broadly to science education. Educational outreach builds on ongoing collaborations with Jamestown Community College. Efforts are geared towards introducing investigative learning instruction using Nasonia in both high schools and community colleges. The insect genus Nasonia is a tractable laboratory organism with a burgeoning research toolkit. The insects quickly learn to associate novel odors with a host reward. However, memory retention following a host reward differs considerably between closely related species. In an exciting new finding, genetic regions containing reduced memory retention genes have been successfully backcrossed from the low memory retention species into the high memory retention species. The goals of this project are to clone the memory retention genes by recombination, identify how their coding and cis-regulatory regions differ, determine where and when they are expressed and whether they modulate expression of other memory genes following a learning experience, investigate their effects on memory retention using RNA interference knockdowns, and determine whether the memory retention effects generalize to other learning modes (e.g. visual stimuli, aversive stimuli). Given the genetic tools available in Nasonia and an established track record in cloning genes causing species difference, the project has a high probability of success. Data will be made available through National Center for Biological Information (NCBI) databases, the Hymenopteran database and through publication in open access journals.