Two Parallel Pathways Assign Opposing Odor Valences during Drosophila Memory Formation.

During olfactory associative learning in Drosophila, odors activate specific subsets of intrinsic mushroom body (MB) neurons. Coincident exposure to either rewards or punishments is thought to activate extrinsic dopaminergic neurons, which modulate synaptic connections between odor-encoding MB neurons and MB output neurons to alter behaviors. However, here we identify two classes of intrinsic MB γ neurons based on cAMP response element (CRE)-dependent expression, γCRE-p and γCRE-n, which encode aversive and appetitive valences.

Two Components of Aversive Memory in , Anesthesia-Sensitive and Anesthesia-Resistant Memory, Require Distinct Domains Within the Rgk1 Small GTPase.

Multiple components have been identified that exhibit different stabilities for aversive olfactory memory in These components have been defined by behavioral and genetic studies and genes specifically required for a specific component have also been identified. Intermediate-term memory generated after single cycle conditioning is divided into anesthesia-sensitive memory (ASM) and anesthesia-resistant memory (ARM), with the latter being more stable. We determined that the ASM and ARM pathways converged on the Rgk1 small GTPase and that the N-terminal domain-deleted Rgk1 was sufficient for ASM formation, whereas the full-length form was required for ARM formation.