Research Projects

Early life stressful experiences have been linked to long-term neurobehavioral abnormalities and increased vulnerability for psychiatric disorders. Fear-inducing stress exposures around puberty led to "pathological" aggressive behavior in adult male mice, while females were resilient. Brain region and sex-specific transcriptome analysis revealed top-ranking differentially expressed protein coding genes and lncRNAs, which have gained attention as epigenetic regulators of gene expression. The hypothesis is that lncRNAs may operate at the epigenetic level and drive peripubertal stress (PPS)-induced adult pathological aggression. The proposed proposal aims to characterize Gm12840 lncRNA in the context of PPS-driven pathological aggressive behavior. Hypothetical models will be framed to explain the relation between stress, Gm12840 expression, and aggressive behavior: early induction, sustained expression, or early epigenetic changes leading to late induction. The expression of Gm12840 will be monitored over several weeks following stress exposure to explore these models. Sub-cellular localization and association with interacting partners will be used to unravel the molecular function of the lncRNA. The work will employ both in vitro and in vivo model systems and utilize cellular, molecular, and behavioral approaches. The study outcome could be applied to relevant human cohorts for establishing translational value. The potential relevance of such studies to understanding human disorders cannot be overemphasized.