Social Structure in Drosophilids

基因、大脑和社会行为之间的关系是当今生物学的核心问题。最近，科学家们已经放弃了先天与后天的区别。现在，遗传和社会规范之间的相互作用被视为基因、环境以及基因和环境之间相互作用的产物，这种相互作用并不总是直接的。在实验室里，我们用果蝇来研究社会性的遗传学。最近，我们证明了苍蝇形成非随机的社会互动网络（SIN; Schneider et al.，PNAS，2012）。在这里，我们建议研究在各种果蝇物种的SIN。我们从七个物种的初步数据表明，这些网络显示果蝇之间的保守。我们将把这些初步结果扩展到大约20-30个物种，一些是在野外捕获的，另一些是从储备中心获得的。我们将应用定量测试来评估这些物种的进化历史是否从它们的网络中显而易见。此外，我们将寻找所有这些物种中保守的社会元素的遗传特征。我们有候选基因，我们将使用尖端技术在体内操纵基因来测试这些基因。为了更好地理解这些网络的进化意义，我们会问，基于邻近性的互动网络是否会导致交配和战斗的网络。我们将研究这些不同的网络是如何相互关联的。我们还将调查社交网络是否加强了物种之间的屏障。有些苍蝇物种占据重叠的地理位置，称为杂交区。我们将从这些区域以及它们不重叠的区域捕获苍蝇。我们将比较这些类型的组合，以评估混合物种的网络结构作为物种隔离的函数。这些研究将告诉我们社交网络在果蝇中是否是保守的，这些网络背后的基因是否是保守的，以及这些网络的影响是否在进化过程中发挥作用。没有NSERC我们做不到。

The relationship between genes, brains and social behaviour is a central problem in biology today. In the recent past scientists have abandoned the nature-nurture distinction. Now the interplay between inheritance and social norms is seen as the product of genes, the environment and the interaction between genes and the environment, an interaction that is not always straight-forward. In the lab we use the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the genetics of sociality. Recently, we demonstrated that flies form non-random social interaction networks (SINs; Schneider et al., PNAS, 2012). Here, we propose to study SINs in a variety of Drosophila species. Our preliminary data from seven species suggest that these networks show conservation among the Drosophilids. We will extend these preliminary results to ask about 20-30 species, some caught in the wild, others obtained from stock centers. We will apply quantitative tests to assess whether the evolutionary history of these species is apparent from their networks. In addition, we will look for genetic signatures of conserved social elements in all of these species. We have candidate genes and we will test these using cutting edge techniques for manipulating genes in vivo. To better understand the evolutionary significance of these networks, we will ask whether networks of interactions based on proximity lead to networks of mating and fighting. We will look into how these different networks are interrelated. We will also investigate whether social networks strengthen the barrier between species. There are fly species that occupy overlapping geographic locations known as hybrid zones. We will capture flies from these zones and also from regions where they do not overlap. We will compare combinations of these types to assess the network structure of mixed species as a function of species isolation. These studies will tell us whether social networks are conserved among Drosophilids, whether the genes underlying these networks are conserved and whether the effects of these networks play out in evolutionary time. We cannot do this without NSERC.