Mutational analyses of learning and memory

我们的目标是利用现代分子遗传学的力量和特异性来揭示学习和记忆的组成部分过程。在对学习和记忆进行突变筛选的方法中，我们利用了最知名的多细胞生物体--线虫线虫。秀丽线虫已被证明是研究哺乳动物(包括人类)生化功能的一个极好的分子模型。我们将利用已发现的线虫学习和记忆基因来寻找它们在哺乳动物中的相关同源基因。最重要的是，线虫突变体应该让我们能够问，我们是否可以将联想学习和非联想学习、即时记忆和长期记忆、存储和检索以及一种感觉通道中的学习和记忆与另一种感觉通道中的学习和记忆区分开来。

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.