title: Dissecting neural pathways for forgetting in Drosophila olfactory aversive memory.
abstract: Recent studies have identified molecular pathways driving forgetting and supported the notion that forgetting is a biologically active process. The circuit mechanisms of forgetting, however, remain largely unknown. Here we report two sets of Drosophila neurons that account for the rapid forgetting of early olfactory aversive memory. We show that inactivating these neurons inhibits memory decay without altering learning, whereas activating them promotes forgetting. These neurons, including a cluster of dopaminergic neurons (PAM-β'1) and a pair of glutamatergic neurons (MBON-γ4>γ1γ2), terminate in distinct subdomains in the mushroom body and represent parallel neural pathways for regulating forgetting. Interestingly, although activity of these neurons is required for memory decay over time, they are not required for acute forgetting during reversal learning. Our results thus not only establish the presence of multiple neural pathways for forgetting in Drosophila but also suggest the existence of diverse circuit mechanisms of forgetting in different contexts.
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; shuaiyichun@gmail.com zhongyi@cshl.edu.
authors.forename: Yichun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shuai
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724;
authors.forename: Areekul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirokawa
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724;
authors.forename: Yulian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; Mudanjiang Normal University, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang 157011, China;
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetics, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021.
authors.forename: Wanhe
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; shuaiyichun@gmail.com zhongyi@cshl.edu.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005973:Glutamine / Q000378:metabolism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009812:Odorants; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005973:Glutamine; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: Drosophila melanogaster; associative memory; forgetting; mushroom body; reversal learning