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Published online: 10 March 2010 | doi:10.1038/nchina.2010.32
Behavioural neuroscience: You must remember this
Felix Cheung
Abstract
Researchers have identified a protein that plays a role in memory erasure in fruit flies
Original article citation
et al. Forgetting is regulated through Rac activity in Drosophila. Cell 140, 579–589 (2010).Introduction
© (2010) istockphoto.com/Tomasz Zachariasz
Have you ever wondered why you easily forget things you just learnt? The brain actually has a dedicated mechanism for removing newly acquired memory that becomes unnecessary or inappropriate, but the molecular basis for this is unclear. Yi Zhong and co-workers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA1 have now identified a protein that seems to help fruit flies erase newly acquired memory.
Rac belongs to the Rho family GTPases — a family of signalling proteins that regulate cytoskeleton dynamics and other cellular processes. The researchers trained 100 fruit flies to associate an odour with an electric foot shock and another odour with a blank. They then studied the distribution of trained flies in a T-maze with 'electric foot shock' odour on one arm and 'blank' odour on the other.
The researchers found that genetically engineered fruit flies with enhanced Rac activity quickly forgot the odour to avoid, whereas genetically engineered fruit flies with inhibited Rac activity took much longer to forget — from a few hours to more than a day. However, the level of Rac activity had no effect on the way fruit flies acquire their memory — as indicated by their learning curves.
The findings suggest that the protein Rac is involved in memory erasure in fruit flies. The researchers aim to find a protein with similar functions in humans that could allow people to erase unwanted memories.
The authors of this work are from:
Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York City, New York, USA.
Reference
- Shuai, Y. et al. Forgetting is regulated through Rac activity in Drosophila. Cell 140, 579–589 (2010). | Article | PubMed
