Neurogenetic Approaches to Study Directed Behavior in Drosophila

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的长期目标是提供一个框架，以了解一个简单的，先天的行为是如何从神经系统的活动出现。为此，我们将应用一系列分子遗传学技术和成像技术来研究果蝇温度偏好的电路机制-这是一个非常适合对神经电路和行为进行全面遗传和分子解剖的系统。我们最近表明，温度是由感觉传入在苍蝇大脑中的第一个中继站创建的活动地图表示的。我们现在要研究这张地图 由中枢神经回路处理并转化为定向行为。为了实现我们的总体目标，我们将使用GFP的靶向光活化、GRASP、ChR 2介导的电路映射和效应分子的遗传表达的组合来：1）识别接收温度信息并将其呈现给更高脑中心的上升神经元群体。2)研究它们的调谐和特性，并将我们的搜索范围缩小到介导温度导航和偏好的关键途径。3)确定他们与更高层次的大脑中心的连接，研究回路中每个站点的刺激转换，并最终跟踪控制行为的下行通路。这项工作预计将有助于我们对控制动物先天行为的神经回路的布线逻辑的一般理解，并可能提供有关影响布线的遗传条件如何导致回路功能受损和行为改变的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our long term goal is to provide a framework to understand how a simple, innate behavior emerges from the activity of the nervous system. For this, we will apply a battery of molecular genetics techniques and imaging technologies to study the circuit mechanisms underlying temperature preference in Drosophila -a system ideally suited for a comprehensive genetic and molecular dissection of neural circuits and behaviors. We have recently shown that temperature is represented by a map of activity created by sensory afferents at the first relay station in the fly brain. We now propose to study how this map is processed by central neural circuits and transformed into directed behavior. To accomplish our overall objectives, we will use a combination of targeted photo-activation of GFP, GRASP, ChR2-mediated circuit mapping and genetic expression of effector molecules to: 1) Identify ascending neuronal populations receiving temperature information and representing it to higher brain centers. 2) Study their tuning and properties, and narrow our search to the key pathways that mediate temperature navigation and preference. 3) Determine their connectivity to higher brain centers, study the transformation of stimuli at each station in the circuit and eventually track the descending pathways that control behavior. This work is expected to contribute to our general understanding of the wiring logic of the neural circuits that control innate behavior in animals, and potentially provide insights on how genetic conditions which affect wiring can result in compromised circuit function and altered behavior.