Engram-specific transcriptome profiling of contextual memory consolidation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31110186.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-09960-x and PMC identifier 6527697.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Sparse populations of neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus are causally implicated in the encoding of contextual fear memories. However, engram-specific molecular mechanisms underlying memory consolidation remain largely unknown. Here we perform unbiased RNA sequencing of DG engram neurons 24 h after contextual fear conditioning to identify transcriptome changes specific to memory consolidation. DG engram neurons exhibit a highly distinct pattern of gene expression, in which CREB-dependent transcription features prominently (P = 6.2 × 10<sup>-13</sup>), including Atf3 (P = 2.4 × 10<sup>-41</sup>), Penk (P = 1.3 × 10<sup>-15</sup>), and Kcnq3 (P = 3.1 × 10<sup>-12</sup>). Moreover, we validate the functional relevance of the RNAseq findings by establishing the causal requirement of intact CREB function specifically within the DG engram during memory consolidation, and identify a novel group of CREB target genes involved in the encoding of long-term memory.
Medical subject headings
- Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein
- Cytoskeletal Proteins
- Dentate Gyrus
- Memory Consolidation
- Nerve Tissue Proteins