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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Neuropharmacological Manipulation of Restrained and Free-flying Honey Bees, Apis mellifera
Published on: November 26, 2016
Involvement of DNA methylation in memory processing in the honey bee
Gabrielle A Lockett1, Paul Helliwell, Ryszard Maleszka
1Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
Abstract:
DNA methylation, an important and evolutionarily conserved epigenetic mechanism, is implicated in learning and memory processes in vertebrates, but its role in behaviour in invertebrates is unknown. We examined the role of DNA methylation in memory in the honey bee using an appetitive Pavlovian olfactory discrimination task, and by assessing the expression of DNA methyltransferase3, a key driver of epigenetic reprogramming. Here we report that DNA methyltransferase inhibition reduces acquisition retention and alters the extinction depending on treatment time, and DNA methyltransferase3 is upregulated after training. Our findings add to the understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in learning and memory, extending known roles of DNA methylation to appetitive and extinction memory, and for the first time implicate DNA methylation in memory in invertebrates.
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