title: G(o) activation is required for both appetitive and aversive memory acquisition in Drosophila.
abstract: Heterotrimeric G(o) is an abundant brain protein required for negatively reinforced short-term associative olfactory memory in Drosophila. G(o) is the only known substrate of the S1 subunit of pertussis toxin (PTX) in fly, and acute expression of PTX within the mushroom body neurons (MB) induces a reversible deficit in associative olfactory memory. We demonstrate here that the induction of PTX within the α/β and γ lobe MB neurons leads to impaired memory acquisition without affecting memory stability. The induction of PTX within these MB neurons also leads to a significant defect in an optimized positively reinforced short-term memory paradigm; however, this PTX-induced learning deficit is noticeably less severe than found with the negatively reinforced paradigm. Both negatively and positively reinforced memory phenotypes are rescued by the constitutive expression of G(o)α transgenes bearing the Cys(351)Ile mutation. Since this mutation renders the G(o) molecule insensitive to PTX, the results isolate the effect of PTX on both forms of olfactory associative learning to the inhibition of the G(o) activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Madalan
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.forename: Shixing
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Gregg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019206:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D024521:Mushroom Bodies / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019206:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go