Hofmann Hans A
Harvard University, Bauer Center for Genomics Research, 7 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
J Neurobiol. 2003 Jan;54(1):272-82. doi: 10.1002/neu.10172.
How does the environment, particularly the social environment, influence brain and behavior and what are the underlying physiologic, molecular, and genetic mechanisms? Adaptations of brain and behavior to changes in the social or physical environment are common in the animal world, either as short-term (i.e., modulatory) or as long-term modifications (e.g., via gene expression changes) in behavioral or physiologic properties. The study of the mechanisms and constraints underlying these dynamic changes requires model systems that offer plastic phenotypes as well as a sufficient level of quantifiable behavioral complexity while being accessible at the physiological and molecular level. In this article, I explore how the new field of functional genomics can contribute to an understanding of the complex relationship between genome and environment that results in highly plastic phenotypes. This approach will lead to the discovery of genes under environmental control and provide the basis for the study of the interrelationship between an individual's gene expression profile and its social phenotype in a given environmental context.
环境，尤其是社会环境，如何影响大脑和行为？其潜在的生理、分子和遗传机制又是什么？在动物界，大脑和行为对社会或物理环境变化的适应性很常见，表现为行为或生理特性的短期（即调节性）或长期改变（例如，通过基因表达变化）。对这些动态变化背后的机制和限制因素的研究需要模型系统，这些系统既要提供可塑性表型，又要具备足够水平的可量化行为复杂性，同时在生理和分子层面上易于研究。在本文中，我探讨了功能基因组学这一新领域如何有助于理解基因组与环境之间的复杂关系，这种关系会导致高度可塑性表型的出现。这种方法将有助于发现受环境控制的基因，并为研究个体在特定环境背景下的基因表达谱与其社会表型之间的相互关系提供基础。
