Mutational analyses of learning and memory

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Our goal is to use the power and specificity of modern molecular genetics to reveal the component processes of learning and memory. In undertaking a mutational screening approach to learning and memory, we have taken advantage of the best known multicellular organism, the nematode C.elegans. C.elegans has proven to be an excellent molecular model for mammalinan (including human) biochemical functions. We will use the C.elegans learning and memory genes discovered to find their relevant mammalian homologues. Most important, the C.elegans mutants should allow us to ask if we can separate associative from nonassociative learning, immediate from longer term memory, storage from retrieval, and learning and memory in one sensory modality from those in another sensory modality.