[Learning ability and memory formation in the Drosophila mutants with defective central complex and mushroom bodies]

Drosophila proved to be a very convenient model for genetic dissection of learning and memory in a number of experimental paradigms. A battery of mutations affecting either different subdomains of the central complex (CC) or of the mushroom bodies (MBs) enable the elucidation of the role of these central brain structures in different forms of learning and memory formation. We tested the CC mutants cexKS181 and ccbKS127 and MBs mutants mud1, mbm1 and cxbN71 for their ability for learning and memory formation in the conditioned courtship suppression paradigm. All the mutants were able to learn but demonstrated different memory defects. While the ccbKS127 mutant was normal in respect to memory formation, the cexKS181 mutant was defective in 30-min. and 3-hour memory; mud1 demonstrated a reduced 3-hour memory.