Dataset Information

Epigenetic control of learning and memory in Drosophila by Tip60 HAT action.

ABSTRACT: Disruption of epigenetic gene control mechanisms in the brain causes significant cognitive impairment that is a debilitating hallmark of most neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Histone acetylation is one of the best characterized of these epigenetic mechanisms that is critical for regulating learning- and memory- associated gene expression profiles, yet the specific histone acetyltransferases (HATs) that mediate these effects have yet to be fully characterized. Here, we investigate an epigenetic role for the HAT Tip60 in learning and memory formation using the Drosophila CNS mushroom body (MB) as a well-characterized cognition model. We show that Tip60 is endogenously expressed in the Kenyon cells, the intrinsic neurons of the MB, and in the MB axonal lobes. Targeted loss of Tip60 HAT activity in the MB causes thinner and shorter axonal lobes while increasing Tip60 HAT levels cause no morphological defects. Functional consequences of both loss and gain of Tip60 HAT levels in the MB are evidenced by defects in immediate-recall memory. Our ChIP-Seq analysis reveals that Tip60 target genes are enriched for functions in cognitive processes, and, accordingly, key genes representing these pathways are misregulated in the Tip60 HAT mutant fly brain. Remarkably, we find that both learning and immediate-recall memory deficits that occur under AD-associated, amyloid precursor protein (APP)-induced neurodegenerative conditions can be effectively rescued by increasing Tip60 HAT levels specifically in the MB. Together, our findings uncover an epigenetic transcriptional regulatory role for Tip60 in cognitive function and highlight the potential of HAT activators as a therapeutic option for neurodegenerative disorders.

SUBMITTER: Xu S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4256772 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Epigenetic control of learning and memory in Drosophila by Tip60 HAT action.

Xu Songjun S Wilf Rona R Menon Trisha T Panikker Priyalakshmi P Sarthi Jessica J Elefant Felice F

Genetics 20141017 4

Disruption of epigenetic gene control mechanisms in the brain causes significant cognitive impairment that is a debilitating hallmark of most neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Histone acetylation is one of the best characterized of these epigenetic mechanisms that is critical for regulating learning- and memory- associated gene expression profiles, yet the specific histone acetyltransferases (HATs) that mediate these effects have yet to be fully characterized. Here ...[more]

PMID: 25326235

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Project description:Environmental enrichment (EE) conditions have profound beneficial effects for reinstating cognitive ability in neuropathological disorders like Alzheimerâs disease (AD). While EE benefits involve epigenetic gene control mechanisms that comprise histone acetylation, the histone acetyltransferases (HATs) involved remain largely unknown. Here, we examine a role for Tip60 HAT action in mediating activity- dependent beneficial neuroadaptations to EE using the Drosophila CNS mushroom body (MB) as a well-characterized cognition model. We show that flies raised under EE conditions display enhanced MB axonal outgrowth, synapse protein production, histone acetylation induction and transcriptional activation of cognition linked genes when compared to their genotypically identical siblings raised under isolated conditions. Further, these beneficial changes are impaired in both Tip60 HAT mutant flies and APP neurodegenerative flies. While EE conditions provide only slight beneficial neuroadaptive changes in the APP neurodegenerative fly MB, such positive changes are significantly enhanced by increasing MB Tip60 HAT levels. Our results implicate Tip60 as a critical mediator of EE-induced benefits, and provide insight into synergistic behavioral and epigenetic based approaches for treatment of cognitive disorders. EE has been shown to positively impact gene expression profiles in the mouse brain that are enriched in functions such as neuronal structure, synaptic plasticity and neurotransmission. Thus, we asked whether the EE induced beneficial MB structural and synaptic changes we observe are accompanied by neuroadaptive transcriptional benefits in the Drosophila MB, and if so, is Tip60 HAT action required for this process. To address this question, we accessed EE induced beneficial transcriptional changes using microarray. We crossed our UAS-mCD8-GFP;Tip60E431Q flies or control UAS-mCD8-GFP flies to MB GAL4 OK-107 to simultaneously induce Tip60 HAT loss in the MB while tagging MB cells with GFP. Adult progeny were exposed to EE or ISO conditions. After conditioning, the GFP tagged MB Kenyon neurons were FACs purified from conditioned fly brains from each genotype to enrich for detection of an EE induced MB transcriptional response. RNA was isolated from the purified Kenyon MB neurons and transcriptional changes for each genotype were assessed using microarray analysis

Dataset Information

Epigenetic control of learning and memory in Drosophila by Tip60 HAT action.

Publications

Epigenetic control of learning and memory in Drosophila by Tip60 HAT action.

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