Functional analysis of novel honey bee neuropeptide genes using Drosophila

描述（由申请人提供）：社会行为发生在动物分类群和组织的光谱中，从秀丽隐杆线虫的聚集行为到社会昆虫的精心组织的群体。蜜蜂（Apis mellifera）是一种高度社会化的昆虫，它表现出许多与人类相同的重要行为，如父母照顾幼崽和象征性的舞蹈语言。随着最近对蜜蜂基因组的测序，现在进行分子研究更容易了。蜜蜂有丰富的行为，但分子和基因操作技术仍不成熟。解决这个问题的另一种方法是利用果蝇的实验技术。蜜蜂基因组包含多个基因，这些基因似乎编码神经肽，但功能未知，在蜜蜂中似乎是新的。这些新的神经肽基因将在果蝇中表达，简单的行为将被系统地测试。这些基因可能在社会行为的组织中起作用，这一假设将被检验。人类生活在社会群体中，人们对自闭症等社会行为疾病知之甚少。通过了解神经肽基因在蜜蜂复杂行为中的可能作用，我们可能能够从总体上理解基因如何构成人类复杂行为的基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social behavior occurs across animal taxa and in a spectrum of organization, from aggregation behaviors in C. elegans to the exquisitely organized colonies of social insects. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a highly social insect, which shows many important behaviors in common with humans, such as parental care of young and a symbolic dance language. With the recent sequencing of the honey bee genome, it is now easier to conduct molecular studies. The honey bee has a rich repertoire of behaviors, yet molecular and genetic manipulation techniques are still immature. An alternative approach to this problem is to take advantage of the experimental techniques of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. The honey been genome contains multiple genes which appear to encode neuropeptides, but have unknown functions and appear to be novel in the honey bee. These novel neuropeptide genes will be expressed in the fruit fly and simple behaviors will be systematically tested. The hypothesis will be examined that these genes may play a role in the organization of social behavior. Humans exist in social groups and social behavior diseases, such as autism, are poorly understood. By understanding the possible role of neuropeptide genes in complex behavior in the honey bee, we may be able to understand in general terms how genes underlie complex behaviors in humans.