Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Gerson Asti | email: gersonasti8@gmail.com
Gerson Asti 1°, Beatriz Gil Marti 2°, Francisco Martin 2°, Esteban Javier Beckwith 1°
1° Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE) – UBA CONICET, Argentina
2° Cajal Institute, Madrid, Spain
Social interactions perceived as positive are associated with improved health. On the contrary, social isolation has been shown to negatively affect behaviour and health. The consequences of a socially impoverished environment, such as increased aggression, anxiety, food consumption and activity are observed in humans and other species. The fly Drosophila melanogaster is an ideal organism for studying the genetic basis of behaviour, where social isolation leads to an increase in locomotor activity. Our hypothesis is that the changes in locomotor activity caused by social isolation are sustained by long-term memory generated by the experience of loneliness. As a first step to test this idea, we implemented a socialization/isolation paradigm followed by the recording of sleep and wake behaviour in flies employing a video-tracking device. Later, we deepen the characterization of the effect of isolation on behaviour and evaluate the role of the rutabaga and dunce genes, which are involved in the acquisition and consolidation of memories, in the behavioural change induced by isolation. Preliminary experiments with dunce mutants show that, while the mutation had an impact on locomotor activity, the flies show the effect of isolation. Our plan future plan is to evaluate the functional role of mushroom bodies, the main memory storage centre of the insect brain, as well as sleep-regulating centres, in behavioural change induced by social isolation.