FM Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Neuron. 2020 Jan 22;105(2):334-345.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.10.018. Epub 2019 Nov 27.
Electrical events in neurons occur on the order of milliseconds, but the brain can process and reproduce intervals millions of times longer. We present what we believe to be the first neuronal mechanism for timing intervals longer than a few seconds. The activation and gradual relaxation of calcium-independent CaMKII measure a 6-min time window to coordinate two male-specific events during Drosophila mating: sperm transfer and a simultaneous decrease in motivation. We localize these functions to four neurons whose electrical activity is necessary only to report the conclusion of the decline in CaMKII's activity, not for the measurement of the interval. The computation of elapsed time is therefore largely invisible to standard methods of monitoring neuronal activity. Its broad conservation, ubiquitous expression, and tunable duration of activity suggest that CaMKII may time a wide variety of behavioral and cognitive processes.
神经元中的电活动发生在毫秒级，但大脑可以处理和再现长数百万倍的时间间隔。我们提出了一种我们认为是用于计时超过几秒钟的时间间隔的第一个神经元机制。钙非依赖性 CaMKII 的激活和逐渐松弛可测量 6 分钟的时间窗口，以协调果蝇交配过程中的两个雄性特有的事件：精子传递和同时降低动机。我们将这些功能定位到四个神经元，其电活动仅需要报告 CaMKII 活性下降的结论，而无需测量间隔。因此，标准的神经元活动监测方法在很大程度上无法计算经过的时间。其广泛的保守性、普遍的表达和可调节的活性持续时间表明，CaMKII 可能会对各种行为和认知过程进行计时。
