生物谷報道：有關(guān)長時程學(xué)習(xí)和記憶的研究一直是人們關(guān)心的問題,，長時程記憶到底是什么機理？是信號還是基因/蛋白質(zhì),？在今天剛剛出版的Nature上報道在果蠅上研究表明,，cathepsin是果蠅長時程記憶的一種重要蛋白。在果蠅中稱Crammer蛋白,，如果過表達這種蛋白,，它的長時程記憶能力明顯增強,，而這個基因缺陷的果蠅則失去長時程記憶能力。

Nature 430, 460 - 463 (22 July 2004); doi:10.1038/nature02726 
 
 
Drosophila long-term memory formation involves regulation of cathepsin activity

DANIEL COMAS*, FLORIAN PETIT* & THOMAS PREAT

Développement, Évolution et Plasticité du Système Nerveux, CNRS, 1, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91190 Gif sur Yvette, France
* These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to T.P. ([email protected]).

Whereas short-term memory lasts from minutes to hours, long-term memory (LTM) can last for days or even an entire lifetime. LTM generally forms after spaced repeated training sessions and involves the regulation of gene expression1, 2, thereby implicating transcription factors in the initial steps of LTM establishment3. However, the direct participation of effector genes in memory formation has been rarely documented, and many of the mechanisms involved in LTM formation remain to be understood. Here we describe a Drosophila melanogaster mutant, crammer (cer), which shows a specific LTM defect. The cer gene encodes an inhibitor of a subfamily of cysteine proteinases, named cathepsins, some of which might be involved in human Alzheimer's disease4. The Cer peptide was found in the mushroom bodies (MBs), the Drosophila olfactory memory centre and in glial cells around the MBs. The overexpression of cer in glial cells but not in MB neurons induces a decrease in LTM, suggesting that Cer might have a role in glia and that the concentration of the Cer peptide is critical for LTM. In wild-type flies, cer expression transiently decreases after LTM conditioning, indicating that cysteine proteinases are activated early in LTM formation.

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