Social behavior is a complex trait and social interactions are critical determinants of human mental and physical health. Our long-term objective is to explain the interplay among factors influencing complex traits like social behavior by the integration of genomic research, statistical analysis, bioinformatic resources and outreach.
Six specific aims support this objective. 1) We will generate expression profiles for more than 7000 genes in the brain of the honey bee as a function of its complex pattern of behavioral maturation; samples will be taken every 3-4 days, as it moves through its in-hive tasks and then shifts to foraging outside. We will characterize these profiles in two distinct races known to differ in the rate of maturation. These biological findings will have a major impact on understanding behavior, neurological and mental processes, health and well-being in bees, humans and other species. Epistatic, pleiotropic, and polygenic background effects will be studied while accounting for systematic noise including array, dye and transcript level effects. 2) We will apply novel linear and nonlinear mixed-effects longitudinal models that seamlessly integrate intensity normalization and analyses. 3) We will use hierarchical models to identify between race variation. These models account for technical sources of variation and for correlation in expression that might arise among genes that are from the same family or code for proteins in the same pathway. This proposal fills an important need for general models suitable for complex sets of gene expression data. 4) Visual approaches will be developed to check for model adequacy. 5) The proposed methodology will be combined with bioinformatic resources in a publicly available suite of routines that facilitate the interpretation of results while assigning gene function. 6) The findings will be used as applied examples of mathematical and science concepts in inquiry-based, open-ended, educational materials; virtual and tangible presentations for high school students, teachers, and the general public will be developed. Our findings constitute stepping-stones for understanding and further studies of human neurological, mental, communication, and aging processes and disorders, giving rise to treatments and cures.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM068946-03
Application #
6898218
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZGM1-MBP-1 (01))
Program Officer
Tompkins, Laurie
Project Start
2003-06-15
Project End
2007-05-31
Budget Start
2005-06-01
Budget End
2006-05-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$264,852
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Department
Veterinary Sciences
Type
Schools of Earth Sciences/Natur
DUNS #
041544081
City
Champaign
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
61820
Wheeler, M M; Ament, S A; Rodriguez-Zas, S L et al. (2013) Brain gene expression changes elicited by peripheral vitellogenin knockdown in the honey bee. Insect Mol Biol 22:562-73
Lutz, Claudia C; Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra L; Fahrbach, Susan E et al. (2012) Transcriptional response to foraging experience in the honey bee mushroom bodies. Dev Neurobiol 72:153-66
Bionaz, Massimo; Periasamy, Kathiravan; Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra L et al. (2012) Old and new stories: revelations from functional analysis of the bovine mammary transcriptome during the lactation cycle. PLoS One 7:e33268
Monaco, Elisa; Bionaz, Massimo; Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra et al. (2012) Transcriptomics comparison between porcine adipose and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells during in vitro osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation. PLoS One 7:e32481
Rodriguez-Zas, Sandra L; Southey, Bruce R; Shemesh, Yair et al. (2012) Microarray analysis of natural socially regulated plasticity in circadian rhythms of honey bees. J Biol Rhythms 27:12-24
Piantoni, P; Daniels, K M; Everts, R E et al. (2012) Level of nutrient intake affects mammary gland gene expression profiles in preweaned Holstein heifers. J Dairy Sci 95:2550-61
Naeger, Nicholas L; Van Nest, Byron N; Johnson, Jennifer N et al. (2011) Neurogenomic signatures of spatiotemporal memories in time-trained forager honey bees. J Exp Biol 214:979-87
Soria-Guerra, Ruth Elena; Rosales-Mendoza, Sergio; Chang, Sungyul et al. (2010) Transcriptome analysis of resistant and susceptible genotypes of Glycine tomentella during Phakopsora pachyrhizi infection reveals novel rust resistance genes. Theor Appl Genet 120:1315-33
Moyes, Kasey M; Drackley, James K; Morin, Dawn E et al. (2010) Mammary gene expression profiles during an intramammary challenge reveal potential mechanisms linking negative energy balance with impaired immune response. Physiol Genomics 41:161-70
Piantoni, Paola; Bionaz, Massimo; Graugnard, Daniel E et al. (2010) Functional and gene network analyses of transcriptional signatures characterizing pre-weaned bovine mammary parenchyma or fat pad uncovered novel inter-tissue signaling networks during development. BMC Genomics 11:331

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