Waddell S, Quinn W G
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Biology, Center for Learning and Memory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Annu Rev Neurosci. 2001;24:1283-309. doi: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.1283.
Flies can learn. For the past 25 years, researchers have isolated mutants, engineered mutants with transgenes, and tested likely suspect mutants from other screens for learning ability. There have been notable surprises-conventional second messenger systems co-opted for intricate associative learning tasks, two entirely separate forms of long-term memory, a cell-adhesion molecule that is necessary for short-term memory. The most recent surprise is the mechanistic kinship revealed between learning and addictive drug response behaviors in flies. The flow of new insight is likely to quicken with the completion of the fly genome and the arrival of more selective methods of gene expression.
果蝇能够学习。在过去25年里，研究人员分离出突变体，用转基因技术构建突变体，并对来自其他筛选的可能的可疑突变体进行学习能力测试。出现了一些值得注意的意外发现——传统的第二信使系统被用于复杂的联想学习任务，两种完全不同的长期记忆形式，一种对短期记忆必不可少的细胞粘附分子。最近的意外发现是果蝇的学习行为与成瘾性药物反应行为之间揭示出的机制亲缘关系。随着果蝇基因组测序的完成以及更具选择性的基因表达方法的出现，新见解的涌现可能会加快。
