Doctoral Dissertation Research: Epigenentic Signatures of Social Isolation in Free-Ranging Primates

有大量的证据表明，社会因素可以影响生理健康和进化适应性，但这些关系背后的分子机制还没有得到很好的理解。本论文项目研究基因表达的变化模式，因为它们分布在自由放养的恒河猴的社交网络，以了解慢性社会隔离可能转化为生理效应。该项目将产生关于社会性和表观遗传变化的比较数据，可以为人类福祉和社会孤立的研究提供信息。该项目的研究结果将提供给全球科学界，该项目将支持本科生和研究生在STEM研究方面的培训，以及公共科学宣传活动。虽然我们对投资于社会债券的健康和健身益处了解很多，但我们对实际转化这些效应的分子机制知之甚少。该项目将测试DNA甲基化是对社会环境的协调反应的假设，通过比较慢性社会隔离和严重参与群体社会生活的甲基化模式，并评估已知生理健康后果的遗传途径中的甲基化模式。研究人员将使用一个多年、多组的行为数据集来量化80只猴子的社交网络。mulatta）的Cayo圣地亚哥殖民地使用社会网络分析（SNA）的工具包。全血DNA的还原亚硫酸氢盐测序将用于计算全基因组甲基化水平，研究人员还将确定在行为和健康相关的多巴胺能系统中是否存在DNA甲基化的过度表达。过去和试点研究表明，在社会环境的变化的基础上，多巴胺能遗传学可能是差异适应，这项研究将提供经验数据，以更好地了解多巴胺能系统信号通路在表型可塑性中的作用。

There is substantial evidence that social factors can affect physiological well-being and evolutionary fitness, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these relationships are not well understood. This dissertation project examines patterns of change in gene expression as they are distributed through the social networks of free-ranging rhesus monkeys, to understand how chronic social isolation might translate into physiological effects. The project will result in comparative data on sociality and epigenetic change that can inform research on human well-being and social isolation. Findings from the project will be made accessible to the global scientific community, and the project will support undergraduate and graduate student training in STEM research, as well as public science outreach activities. Although we know much about the health and fitness benefits of investing in social bonds, we know little about the molecular mechanisms that actually translate these effects. This project will test the hypothesis that DNA methylation is a coordinated response to the social environment, by comparing methylation patterns for those in chronic social isolation and those heavily involved in a group's social life, and assessing methylation patterns in genetic pathways of known consequence for physiological well-being. The investigators will use a multi-year, multi-group behavioral data set to quantify the social networks of 80 monkeys (M. mulatta) of the Cayo Santiago colony using the tool-kit of Social Network Analysis (SNA). Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing with whole blood DNA will be used to calculate genome-wide methylation levels and The investigators will also determine if there is over-representation of DNA methylation in a behaviorally- and health-implicated serotonergic system. Past and pilot research indicates that serotonergic genetics might be differentially adaptive based on variance in the social environment, and this study will provide empirical data to better understand the role of the serotonergic system signaling pathway in phenotypic plasticity.