However, the LTF was abolished when antisense oligonucleotides were this website delivered to the specific synapse to knock down local CPEB. Importantly, the Aplysia LTF model also revealed that CPEB expression is itself upregulated locally at activated synapses ( Si et al., 2003a). An SDS-resistant CPEB oligomer can be immunopurified from Aplysia neurons. The formation of such oligomer was enhanced by serotonin treatment and promoted LTF, suggesting that the activity dependent

induction of CPEB plays a role in plasticity. These findings raised the provocative hypothesis that neural activity induces CPEB to undergo a self-sustaining conformational change that then helps to maintain a translationally active state for some mRNAs at the synapse. The roles of the RNA-binding and prion-like functions of CPEB were not easily deciphered, in part because of the potential contributions of the various known isoforms of CPEB. Studies selleck chemicals llc in flies, including the new one from Krüttner et al. (2012) (this issue of Neuron), leverage the advantages of the fly model system for precise genetic manipulations. The findings nicely complement the results from Aplysia and mammalian systems, where cell biology was more tractable. The fruit fly made a debut in the CPEB literature with the discovery that Orb2, the Drosophila ortholog of CPEB2, plays a role in courtship memory ( Keleman et al., 2007).

Flies offer the combination of a tremendous genetic toolbox and no a rich array of well-studied memory paradigms including visual memory, both appetitive and aversive forms of olfactory memory and memory of courtship experience. In each case, many of the genetic pathways and neural circuits have been elucidated, which provides a considerable leg up for mechanistic investigations. Many of the key regulators of local translation in Aplysia

and mammals are conserved and at play in the fly brain ( Barbee et al., 2006; Dubnau et al., 2003). In the courtship learning paradigm ( Keleman et al., 2007, 2012), male flies can learn to discriminate between virgin and mated females if their courtship attempts have previously been rejected by a mated female. Such courtship memory can be short-term or long-lasting, depending on the training protocol used. Keleman et al. (2007) first linked the Drosophila CPEB protein Orb2 with this particular long-term courtship memory paradigm. Drosophila Orb2, together with vertebrate CPEB2–4 belongs to the CPEB2 subfamily, while Drosophila Orb, Xenopus CPEB, vertebrate CPEB1 and Aplysia CPEB belongs to the CPEB1 subfamily. However, Drosophila Orb2, similar to Aplysia CPEB, does contain an N-terminal glutamine-rich prion-like domain. The two major protein isoforms (Orb2A and Orb2B) produced from the orb2 locus share not only this glutamine-rich domain, but also a C-terminal RNA binding domain.