Memory engram storage and retrieval.
A great deal of experimental investment is directed towards questions regarding the mechanisms of memory storage. Such studies have traditionally been restricted to investigation of the anatomical structures, physiological processes, and molecular pathways necessary for the capacity of memory storage, and have avoided the question of how individual memories are stored in the brain. Memory engram technology allows the labeling and subsequent manipulation of components of specific memory engrams in particular brain regions, and it has been established that cell ensembles labeled by this method are both sufficient and necessary for memory recall. Recent research has employed this technology to probe fundamental questions of memory consolidation, differentiating between mechanisms of memory retrieval from the true neurobiology of memory storage.
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: tonegawa@mit.edu.
Susumu
S
Tonegawa
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Michele
M
Pignatelli
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Dheeraj S
DS
Roy
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Tomás J
TJ
Ryan
D000648:Amnesia, Retrograde / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D017781:Genes, Immediate-Early / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D062308:Optogenetics / Q000379:methods*