Chakraborty Moumita, Paul Blesson K, Nayak Tanmoyita, Das Aniruddha, Jana Nihar R, Bhutani Supriya
Department of Cellular and Molecular Neurosciences, National Brain Research Centre, NH8, Nainwal Mode, Manesar, Haryana, 122051, India.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015 Jun 19;462(1):71-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2015.04.110. Epub 2015 Apr 29.
Angelman syndrome and autism are neurodevelopmental disorders linked to mutations and duplications of an E3 ligase called ube3a respectively. Since cognitive deficits and learning disabilities are hallmark symptoms of both these disorders, we investigated a role for dube3a in the learning ability of flies using the aversive phototaxis suppression assay. We show that down and up-regulation of dube3a are both detrimental to learning in larvae and adults. Using conditional gene expression we found that dube3a is required for normal brain development and during adulthood. Furthermore, we suggest that dube3a could be interacting with other learning and memory genes such as derailed. Along with firmly establishing dube3a as a gene that is required for learning, our work also opens avenues for further understanding the role played by this gene in brain development and behavior.
天使综合征和自闭症是分别与一种名为泛素蛋白连接酶E3A（ube3a）的突变和复制相关的神经发育障碍。由于认知缺陷和学习障碍是这两种疾病的标志性症状，我们使用厌恶光趋避抑制试验研究了果蝇中dube3a在学习能力中的作用。我们发现，dube3a的下调和上调对幼虫和成虫的学习均有害。通过条件性基因表达，我们发现dube3a在正常脑发育过程中和成年期都是必需的。此外，我们认为dube3a可能与其他学习和记忆基因（如脱轨基因）相互作用。除了牢固确立dube3a是学习所需的基因外，我们的工作还为进一步了解该基因在大脑发育和行为中的作用开辟了道路。
