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Updated: Jan 14, 2026

In Vivo Optical Calcium Imaging of Learning-Induced Synaptic Plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster
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Learning and memory in molecular networks.

Thomas Lissek1

  • 1Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 366, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
|October 22, 2025
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Biological systems store memories through molecular network changes. This molecular memory concept explains learning and adaptive phenotypes across organisms, offering therapeutic targets for diseases.

Keywords:
EngramLearningMaladaptationMemoryMolecularNetwork

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Area of Science:

  • Molecular biology
  • Neuroscience
  • Systems biology

Background:

  • Biological systems utilize adaptive molecular network changes to encode information.
  • Single cells can store information as molecular engrams, facilitating learning.
  • Multicellular organisms may cooperatively encode memories through cell-cell communication and tuned molecular memories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine the capacity of biological systems to encode memories via adaptive changes in molecular networks.
  • To propose molecular memory formation as a universal concept for adaptive phenotypes.
  • To elucidate memory phenomena in various biological systems and diseases.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual framework development.
  • Review of existing literature on molecular networks and memory.
  • Analysis of adaptive changes in molecular networks across different biological scales.

Main Results:

  • Molecular network rewiring in single cells can store information and enable learning.
  • Cooperative tuning of single-cell memories may lead to multicellular memory encoding.
  • Molecular memory formation is proposed as a unifying concept for adaptive phenotypes.

Conclusions:

  • A significant portion of brain memory may be stored at the molecular level within single cells.
  • Maladaptive molecular memories can explain environmentally-induced dysfunctions in diseases like cancer and diabetes.
  • Targeting molecular memories presents potential strategies for biological engineering and therapeutics.