Transcription Factors in Long-Term Memory and Synaptic Plasticity

By C. Alberini. Physiological Reviews, 2009

991 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Transcription is a molecular requisite for long-term synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation. Thus, in the last several years, one main interest of molecular neuroscience has been the identification of families of transcription factors that are involved in both of these processes. Transcription is a highly regulated process that involves the combined interaction and function of chromatin and many other proteins, some of which are essential for the basal process of transcription, while others control the selective activation or repression of specific genes. These regulated interactions ultimately allow a sophisticated response to multiple environmental conditions, as well as control of spatial and temporal differences in gene expression. Evidence based on correlative changes in expression, genetic mutations, and targeted molecular inhibition of gene expression have shed light on the function of transcription in both synaptic plasticity and memory formation. This review provides a brief overview of experimental work showing that several families of transcription factors, including CREB, C/EBP, Egr, AP-1, and Rel have essential functions in both processes. The results of this work suggest that patterns of transcription regulation represent the molecular signatures of long-term synaptic changes and memory formation.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Genetics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/751b9ddafa9023b8e2e7795b504d45e57455a9fa

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Citations in the corpus

Astrocyte-neuron lactate transport is required for long-term memory formation (2011, positive): “The Critical Role of Astrocytes in Learning-Induced Molecular and Synaptic Changes We also found that pCREB and Arc expression, as well as pcofilin, which represent essential mechanisms underlying long-term synaptic plasticity and memory formation and their related synaptic structural changes (Alber”
The synaptic plasticity and memory hypothesis: encoding, storage and persistence (2014, background): “T 2 However, in our view, no less important is Bliss & Lömo’s now 40-year-old question—do animals actually make use of this capacity for change and, if so, how? This systems-level question was initially approached in terms of seeking correlations between learning and synaptic potentiation [12], but ”
Modelling learning and memory in Drosophila to understand Intellectual Disabilities. (2020, positive): “Gene transcription controlled by CREB represents an important molecular switch, controlling the transition from shortterm, protein synthesis-independent memory formation to long-term, protein synthesis-dependent memory storage (DeZazzo and Tully, 1995; Martin et al., 1997; Alberini, 2009).”