Posttranslational modification of protein kinase A. The link between short-term and long-term memory.
Both for Aplysia and Drosophila a key role in the molecular mechanism of learning and memory processes has been assigned to the cAMP cascade. In any learning process a short-time stimulus has to be translated into long-lasting changes. The molecular correlate must be a cascade of biochemical reactions with different kinetics, functionally interlinked and operating in overlapping time ranges. Biochemical studies in Drosophila have led to the suggestion that one of these steps is a proteolytic modification of the regulatory subunits of protein kinase A. A quantitative analysis of the relaxation kinetics of a system of protein kinase A, phosphatases and a calcium-dependent protease can give an image of essential characteristics of learning behaviour in Drosophila.
Spatz
H C
HC
Institut für Biologie III, Freiburg i.Br., Germany.
D000818:Animals; D001048:Aplysia; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000502:physiology; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D004330:Drosophila; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000235:genetics*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational / Q000235:genetics*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*
D000242:Cyclic AMP; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases