Last week we discussed papers exploring the effect of #nutrients on human physiology, #brain, and behavior #apaperaday #covid19 #ScienceTwitter #ScienceFromHome #Read #AcademicTwitter

This week I will highlight some #Drosophila and #neuroscience papers which have inspired me over the years.

Today I want to highlight the following paper: "dunce, a mutant of #Drosophila deficient in learning" @pnas by @yadindudai https://www.pnas.org/content/73/5/1684.short - which was an important step to understanding the molecular basis of learning. #learning #memory

Quinn, Harris and Benzer had shown that #Drosophila avoids odors which had been paired with an electric shock. The behavioral assays and setups used by Benzer and his lab for screens were elegant: simple but sophisticated enough for the task at hand.

Showing that #Drosophila - a fly! - could learn and have a memory was not trivial. In books up to the 70s one could still find statements that flies and other simple insects don't learn. But the trick was to get them to learn! #perseverance #ingenuity

I love the start: "The mechanism of learning presumably involves altered interactions among neurons, based on molecular events. Assuming that the biochemical apparatus responsible for plasticity is specified by the genes, one might isolate mutants deficient in learning."

And then it continues: "This could lead to a dissection of the learning process. In #Drosophila, the method of mosaic analysis (1) could permit one to pinpoint the critical anatomical foci which, when altered by mutation, cause learning deficiency."

These simple sentences set out a whole research program which more than 40 years later many laboratories around the globe are still working on (e.g. us)! This is what I call #vision - And remember this is before Nüsslein-Vollhard and Wieschaus did their developmental screens!

Nowadays everybody agrees that development is controlled by genetic programs but for most people it is still difficult to envisage that #genes also impinge on #behavior - although in a more complex way. These behavioral screens were done before the big developmental one.

But back to @yadindudai and dunce - they tested 500 mutagenized X chromosomes and found a mutant! You see on the left that in test controls do not leave start tube and avoid shock odor. But not dunce on the right! They behave the same for control and shock odor!

They do many controls, showing that dunce can smell ok, that the electric shock does act the same on them (including measuring current passes flies the same), and that they can do phototaxis. Every experiments is just as good as the controls! And they try to map the mutation.

This paper clearly shows the power of #genetics when combined with a smart behavioral approach. It looks easy but must have been a lot of work. But charting a new path open the door to many insights which still keeps many #neuroscientists busy. How we #learn and how #memory works

We have a hard time attributing sophisticated behaviors to #invertebrates. But the early Benzer lab papers show that often we just don't know how to ask the questions in the right way! So never underestimate #Drosophila #Celegans #worms #bees #ants #mollusks #neuroscience