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Time-keeping brain protein influences memory

Signaling factor that sets time in the brain also required for normal memory in fruit flies

Date:
October 26, 2020
Source:
Society for Neuroscience
Summary:
Upsetting the brain's timekeeping can cause cognitive impairments, like when jetlag makes you feel foggy and forgetful. These impairments may stem from disrupting a protein that aligns the brain's time-keeping mechanism to the correct time of day, according to new research in fruit flies.
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Upsetting the brain's timekeeping can cause cognitive impairments, like when jetlag makes you feel foggy and forgetful. These impairments may stem from disrupting a protein that aligns the brain's time-keeping mechanism to the correct time of day, according to new research in fruit flies published in JNeurosci.

The brain contains 'clock' neurons that mold circadian behaviors and link them to cues from the environment, like light and seasonal changes. In fruit flies, the clock releases the peptide Pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) to synchronize the activity of the clock neurons and drive time-based behaviors like mating and sleep. PDF may also underlie memory formation, explaining the cognitive dysfunction that occurs when the clock is desynchronized from the environment.

Flyer-Adams et al. tested how well fruit flies with a functioning core clock but lacking the PDF output signal could learn. Flies without PDF had severely impaired memory . However, memory regulation by PDF likely occurs without direct signaling to the main memory structure of flies. These results suggest that PDF from the clock may promote normal memory throughout the day by acting as a timestamp to learning. The VIP pathway in humans may play a similar role.


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Materials provided by Society for Neuroscience. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Johanna G. Flyer-Adams, Emmanuel J. Rivera-Rodriguez, Junwei Yu, Jacob D. Mardovin, Martha L. Reed, Leslie C. Griffith. Regulation of olfactory associative memory by the circadian clock output signal Pigment-dispersing factor (PDF). The Journal of Neuroscience, 2020; JN-RM-0782-20 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0782-20.2020

Cite This Page:

Society for Neuroscience. "Time-keeping brain protein influences memory." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 26 October 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201026135742.htm>.
Society for Neuroscience. (2020, October 26). Time-keeping brain protein influences memory. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201026135742.htm
Society for Neuroscience. "Time-keeping brain protein influences memory." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201026135742.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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