Genomic mechanisms of violent juvenile aggression

项目总结 儿童中的暴力攻击行为对肇事者、受害者、他们的家人和 社会。然而，青少年攻击性的生物学基础在很大程度上仍然不为人知。这种知识的鸿沟依然存在 由于缺乏易于观察和操纵青少年攻击行为的易于处理的模型。这个 提议的项目采用创新、综合的方法来解决这一紧迫的知识差距，使用一种新颖的 动物模型。除了经典鱼类和两栖动物模型的实验可控性外，毒蛙幼体 攻击性很强，这为了解青少年攻击性的基因组基础提供了一个强有力的机会。 我们检验了中心假设，即不同的机制调节急性行为、倾向和 攻击性经历的后果。我们追求两个互补的研究方向：(1)揭示 攻击性的个体变异和发育转移的机制基础；(2)探索基因组和 攻击性经历对肇事者和受害者的行为后果。要优化风险和 ，我们从多个角度解决这些问题，将公正、探索性的方法与 描述和操纵对脊椎动物的社会行为很重要的典型候选者， 包括人类。攻击性经历具有长期的个人和社会后果， 机械论研究将通过阐明原因、结果和潜力产生重大的积极影响 治疗我们社会中最年轻成员的暴力侵犯行为。

PROJECT SUMMARY Violent aggressive behavior in children has life-long consequences for perpetrators, victims, their families, and society. Yet the biological bases of juvenile aggression remain largely unknown. This gap in knowledge persists due to a lack of tractable models in which juvenile aggression can be readily observed and manipulated. The proposed project takes an innovative, integrative approach to address this pressing knowledge gap using a novel animal model. Alongside the experimental tractability of classic fish and amphibian models, poison frog juveniles are highly aggressive, providing a powerful opportunity to understand the genomic bases of juvenile aggression. We test the central hypothesis that distinct mechanisms mediate the acute performance of, propensity for, and consequences of aggressive experiences. We pursue two complementary research directions to (1) uncover the mechanistic bases of individual variation and developmental shifts in aggression, and (2) probe the genomic and behavioral consequences of aggressive experiences for both perpetrators and victims. To optimize risk and reward, we tackle these questions from multiple angles, combining unbiased, exploratory approaches with characterization and manipulation of canonical candidates important for social behavior across vertebrates, including humans. Experiences of aggression have long-lasting individual and societal consequences and mechanistic research will have a significant positive impact by illuminating causes, consequences, and potential treatments for violent aggression among the youngest members of our society.