Logo image
Elongator complex is required for long-term olfactory memory formation in Drosophila
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Elongator complex is required for long-term olfactory memory formation in Drosophila

Dinghui Yu, Ying Tan, Molee Chakraborty, Seth Tomchik and Ronald L Davis
Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), Vol.25(4), pp.183-196
04/2018
DOI: 10.1101/lm.046557.117
PMCID: PMC5855525
PMID: 29545390
url
https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.046557.117View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The evolutionarily conserved Elongator Complex associates with RNA polymerase II for transcriptional elongation. Elp3 is the catalytic subunit, contains histone acetyltransferase activity, and is associated with neurodegeneration in humans. Elp1 is a scaffolding subunit and when mutated causes familial dysautonomia. Here, we show that and are required for aversive long-term olfactory memory in RNAi knockdown of in adult mushroom bodies impairs long-term memory (LTM) without affecting earlier forms of memory. RNAi knockdown with coexpression of cDNA reverses the impairment. Similarly, RNAi knockdown of impairs LTM and coexpression of cDNA reverses this phenotype. The LTM deficit in and knockdown flies is accompanied by the abolishment of a LTM trace, which is registered as increased calcium influx in response to the CS+ odor in the α-branch of mushroom body neurons. Coexpression of or cDNA rescues the memory trace in parallel with LTM. These data show that the Elongator complex is required in adult mushroom body neurons for long-term behavioral memory and the associated long-term memory trace.
Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Conditioning, Classical Drosophila melanogaster Drosophila Proteins - genetics Drosophila Proteins - physiology Gene Knockdown Techniques Histone Acetyltransferases - genetics Histone Acetyltransferases - physiology Memory, Long-Term - physiology Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics Nerve Tissue Proteins - physiology Neurons - physiology Olfactory Pathways - physiology Smell

Details

Metrics

Logo image