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Updated: Aug 7, 2025
A Molecular Readout of Long-term Olfactory Adaptation in C. elegans
Published on: December 22, 2012
A possible mechanism of neural read-out from a molecular engram
J D Mollon1, M V Danilova2, A V Zhuravlev3
1Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
What is the physical basis of declarative memory? The predominant view holds that stored information is embedded in the structure of a neural net, that is, in the signs and weights of its synaptic connections. An alternative possibility is that storage and processing are separated, and that the engram is encoded chemically, most probably in the sequence of a nucleic acid. One deterrent to adoption of the latter hypothesis has been the difficulty of envisaging how neural actively could be converted to and from a molecular code. Our purpose here is limited to suggesting how a molecular sequence could be read out from nucleic acid to neural activity by means of nanopores.
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