Facilitated stimulus-response associative learning and long-term memory in mice lacking the NTAN1 amidase of the N-end rule pathway.
The N-end rule relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. Inactivation of the NTAN1 gene encoding the asparagine-specific N-terminal amidase in mice results in impaired spatial memory [26]. The studies described here were designed to further characterize the effects upon learning and memory of inactivating the NTAN1 gene. NTAN1-deficient mice were found to be better than wild-type mice on black-white and horizontal-vertical discrimination learning. They were also better at 8-week Morris maze retention testing when a reversal trial was not included in the testing procedures. In all three tasks NTAN1-deficient mice appeared to use a strong win-stay strategy. It is concluded that inactivating the asparagine-specific branch of the N-end rule pathway in mice results in impaired spatial learning with concomitant compensatory restructuring of the nervous system in favor of non-spatial (stimulus-response) learning.
Balogh
S A
SA
Biobehavioral Sciences Graduate Degree Program, University of Connecticut, 3107 Horsebarn Hill Road, Storrs, CT 06269-4154, USA.
McDowell
C S
CS
Tae Kwon
Y
Y
Denenberg
V H
VH
D000581:Amidohydrolases / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D020297:Mice, Congenic; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*
D000581:Amidohydrolases; C425491:N-terminal asparagine amidohydrolase