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Updated: Feb 3, 2026
10:13
Dissection and Immunofluorescent Staining of Mushroom Body and Photoreceptor Neurons in Adult Drosophila melanogaster Brains
Published on: November 6, 2017
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Multiple neurons encode CrebB dependent appetitive long-term memory in the mushroom body circuit
Yves F Widmer1, Cornelia Fritsch1, Magali M Jungo1
1Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Elife
|October 23, 2018
Summary
Long-term memory formation requires gene expression changes, regulated by CrebB. This study reveals CrebB is essential in specific mushroom body neurons for olfactory memory in fruit flies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Long-term memory (LTM) formation depends on lasting gene expression changes.
- The transcriptional activator CrebB is crucial for LTM.
- Gene regulatory mechanisms within specific neurons remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of CrebB in the neural circuits of appetitive olfactory LTM.
- To identify specific neurons within the mushroom body (MB) circuit that require CrebB for LTM.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model system.
- Created a GFP-tagged CrebB conditional knockout allele for precise genetic manipulation.
- Examined CrebB dependence in MB α/β, α'/β', MBON α3, and dopaminergic neurons.
Main Results:
- CrebB is required in MB α/β and α'/β' neurons for LTM.
- CrebB is also necessary in MBON α3 neurons for LTM.
- Dopaminergic neurons do not require CrebB for LTM.
Conclusions:
- Transcriptional memory traces occur in distinct neurons within the same neural circuit.
- CrebB plays a critical, neuron-specific role in olfactory LTM formation.
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