Genetic dissection of consolidated memory in Drosophila

Cell. 1994 Oct 7;79(1):35-47. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90398-0.

Abstract

Behavioral and pharmacological experiments in many animal species have suggested that memory is consolidated from an initial, disruptable form into a long-lasting, stable form within a few hours after training. We combined these traditional approaches with genetic analyses in Drosophila to show that consolidated memory of conditioned (learned) odor avoidance 1 day after extended training consisted of two genetically distinct, functionally independent memory components: anesthesia-resistant memory (ARM) and long-term memory (LTM). ARM decayed away within 4 days, was resistant to hypothermic disruption, was insensitive to the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide (CXM), and was disrupted by the radish single-gene mutation. LTM showed no appreciable decay over 7 days, was sensitive to CXM, and was not disrupted by the radish mutation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Avoidance Learning
  • Brain Chemistry / drug effects
  • Conditioning, Classical
  • Cycloheximide / pharmacology
  • Drosophila / genetics*
  • Drosophila / physiology
  • Genes, Insect / genetics
  • Memory / drug effects
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Mutation / physiology

Substances

  • Cycloheximide