CRCNS: Automated Behavior Analysis for Model Genetic Organism

描述(由申请者提供)：该项目建议开发一种新的自动化工具，用于快速有效地量化复杂的动物行为，这一努力将用于许多与人类行为相关的健康问题。这项努力将集中在果蝇，黑腹果蝇，因为它代表着目前将最先进的基因技术与新一代行为分析相结合的最佳机会。最近的研究已经证明，果蝇是研究许多与临床相关的人类行为特征的强大模型系统。这一策略利用了这样一个事实，即果蝇和人类的神经细胞具有许多共同的遗传特征，这些特征可以很容易地使用果蝇可用的工具进行识别。例如，利用这种有机体中可用的强大遗传工具的研究已经确定了一系列与酒精和药物耐受性有关的候选基因。最近对人类群体的研究表明，类似的基因可能与酒精成瘾有关。这一策略不仅限于对毒品和酒精成瘾的研究，还成功地被用于研究人类生物学的其他特征，包括衰老、肥胖、恐惧、攻击性和睡眠障碍。这些方法的潜力和影响是基于对苍蝇进行遗传分析的简便性，以及准确识别大量动物行为缺陷的能力。这笔赠款的目标将是彻底实现苍蝇行为量化的现代化，以便这种遗传模式生物能够更有效地用于研究与人类健康有关的各种行为。 该项目团队将设计、测试并提供三个不同的系统，这些系统将共同允许对成年果蝇的个人和社会行为进行高通量定量分析。在设计这些仪器时，项目团队将利用他们在机器视觉方面的集体专业知识以及多年的实践经验来构建专门的工具来量化苍蝇的行为。这些设备将是智能的，因为它们将能够自动识别为给定任务进行的最有用的测量，以及建议可能新颖的行为模式。它们将基于现成的视频和计算机技术，价格低廉，因此对于普通分子生物学家来说很容易使用。将作出大量努力，以确保所产生的技术将被广泛的国际研究人员所使用。就像给基因组研究带来革命性变化的机器人测序仪一样，这些设备将有助于将行为科学转变为一门现代的民族计量学学科。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project proposes to develop a new class of automated instruments for quantifying complex animal behavior quickly and efficiently, an effort that will be used for many health issues related to human behavior. The effort will focus on the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, because it currently represents the best opportunity for integrating state-of-the-art genetic techniques with a new generation of behavioral assays. Recent research has proven the fruit fly to be a powerful model system for studying many clinically-relevant features of human behavior. This strategy makes use of the fact that the nerve cells of flies and human share many common genetic features, which may be identified quite readily using tools available in fruit flies. For example, investigations that exploit the powerful genetic tools available in this organism have identified a series of candidate genes involved in alcohol and drug tolerance. Recent studies of human populations indicate similar genes may be involved in alcohol addiction. This strategy is not restricted to studies of drug and alcohol addiction, but has also been successfully exploited to study other features of human biology including aging, obesity, fear, aggression and sleep disorders. The potential and impact of these approaches is based on the ease of genetic analyses in flies and also on the ability to accurately identify behavioral defects in large numbers of animals. The goal of this grant will be to thoroughly modernize the quantification of fly behavior so that this genetic model organism can be used more efficiently in the study of a variety of behaviors related to human health. The project team will design, test, and make available three distinct systems that collectively will permit high-throughput quantitative analysis of the individual and social behaviors of adult Drosophila. In designing these instruments, the project team will make use of their collective expertise in machine vision as well as years of practical experience building specialized instruments for quantifying fly behavior. The devices will be intelligent, in that they will be able to automatically identify the most useful measurements to be carried out for a given task, as well as suggest possibly novel models of behavior. They will be based on off-the-shelf video and computer technology to be inexpensive and thus easy to use for the average molecular biologist. Much effort will be made to ensure that the resulting technology will be of use to a broad international community of researchers. Like the robotic sequencers that revolutionized the study of genomics, these devices will help transform behavioral science into a modern discipline of Ethometrics.