Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8526, Japan
Institute for Behavioral Sciences, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan
Department of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30043, Taiwan
Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724 USA .
Age-related memory impairment (AMI) is observed in many species. However, it is uncertain whether AMI results from a specific or a nonspecific decay in memory processing. In Drosophila, memory acquired after a single olfactory conditioning paradigm has three distinct phases: short-term memory (STM), middle-term memory (MTM), and longer-lasting anesthesia-resistant memory (ARM). Here, we demonstrate that age-related defects in olfactory memory are identical to those of the MTM mutantamnesiac (amn). Furthermore, amn flies do not exhibit an age-dependent decrease in memory, in contrast to other memory mutants. The absence of AMI in amn flies is restored by expression of an amn transgene predominantly in DPM cells. Thus, we propose that AMI in flies results from a specific decrease inamn-dependent MTM.