EAPSI: Connecting Genes to Behaviors in Ostracod Bioluminescent Mating Displays

生物学中一个悬而未决的问题是基因如何影响动物的行为。行为很重要，因为它们会影响动物的生存和繁殖。但对于关系密切的物种，相似的行为可能会有所不同。那么，与生存息息相关的行为如何在保持其功能的同时，又能在不同物种之间发生变化呢？这个项目将研究基因和行为的关系，以及它是如何利用海萤火虫发生变化的。许多物种通过发光来吸引交配，但不同物种的发光表现有所不同。负责在这些显示器上发光的基因被称为荧光素酶，是由大宫义弘博士首次描述的，他目前在日本筑波的国家先进工业科学技术研究所工作。他和他的同事三谷康夫博士将在这个项目上与研究人员合作，展示荧光素酶如何在海萤火虫中发生变化。使用Ohmiya博士开发的技术，研究人员将从不同物种中提取荧光素酶，并检查它们的功能，看看是否有任何差异可以描述它们发光显示的变化。该项目旨在利用海萤火虫将基因型与行为表型联系起来。海萤火虫通过分泌粘液球来产生生物发光交配显示，其中荧光素酶氧化底物精浆产生光。在单个推注中，光量和生化反应的持续时间因物种而异。研究人员将从发明这些技术的合作者那里学习分子克隆、质粒构建和蛋白质表达分析。他们将描述一组物种中的荧光素酶的特征，并测试这些酶是否具有不同的发光能力。这些数据将与行为数据相结合，以测试生物化学功能和物种之间的行为表现差异之间的相关性。该奖项由东亚和太平洋夏季学院计划设立，支持一名美国研究生的夏季研究，并由NSF和日本科学促进会共同资助。

An unresolved question in biology is how genes contribute to animal behavior. Behaviors are important because they can affect animal survival and reproduction. But with closely related species, similar behaviors can vary. So how can behaviors integral to survival retain their functionality yet also change across species? This project will investigate both the gene-behavior relationship and how it changes using sea fireflies. Many species make glowing displays to attract mates, but these displays differ between species. The gene responsible for making light in these displays, called luciferase, was first described by Dr. Yoshihiro Ohmiya, currently at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan. He and his colleague Dr. Yasuo Mitani will collaborate with the investigator on this project to show how luciferase has changed across sea fireflies. Using techniques developed by Dr. Ohmiya, the investigator will take luciferase from different species and examine how they function to see if any differences can describe changes in their glowing displays.This project aims to connect genotype to behavioral phenotype using sea fireflies. Sea fireflies create bioluminescent mating displays by secreting globs of mucus where the enzyme luciferase oxidizes the substrate vargulin to produce light. In a single bolus, the amount of light and duration of the biochemical reaction varies between species. The investigator will learn molecular cloning, plasmid construction, and protein expression assays from collaborators who invented these techniques. They will characterize luciferase from a suite of species and test if these enzymes have a differential ability to produce light. These data will be combined with behavioral data to test for a correlation between biochemical function and behavioral display differences between species.This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.