   Mushroom body neurons in the whole-mount Drosophila brain and the head of a live fly visualized by enhancer-trap driven expression of green flouresent protein. These preparations allow electrophysiological and optic imaging analysis of identified neurons in whole brains or live flies. |
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Yi Zhong Professor Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1991 Neurophysiology; Drosophila; learning and memory; neurofibromatosis; signal transduction email zhongyi@cshl.edu, phone (516) 367-6811, fax (516) 367-8880
First, we are establishing Drosophila models for studying neurogenetic disorders that impair learning and memory. Drosophila shares similar molecular mechanisms of learning and memory with vertebrates; and many of the genes identified in human diseases are evolutionarily conserved. Thus, Drosophila may serve as a useful model system for revealing functions of genes implicated in disease and lead to insights into pathogenesis and treatment. Mutations at the tumor suppressor neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) gene cause neurofibromas and learning defects in patients, and mutations in the presenilin gene lead to early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Our electrophysiological, biochemical, and behavioral analyses of Drosophila NF1 mutants have revealed that the NF1 gene encodes a protein that functions as an inhibitor of Ras activity and also regulates the cAMP signal transduction pathway. This NF1-regulated cAMP pathway is crucial for learning in flies. Second, we are using electrophysiological and optical methods for examining mechanisms of learning and memory at cellular and network levels in the Drosophila brain, which is particularly amenable to genetic manipulation. Currently, we are focusing on olfactory-related associative learning and have developed a preparation that allows us to monitor brain neural activity in response to odors and other stimuli in living flies. We are now investigating how odors are coded for and how such coding is modified during learning in a particular brain region called the “mushroom body”, known to be essential for olfactory-related learning. Selected Publications Qian, M., Pan, G., Sun, L., Feng, C., Xie, Z., Tully, T. & Zhong, Y. 2007. Receptor-like tyrosine phosphatase PTP10D is required for long-term memory in Drosophila. J. Neurosci. 27: 4396-402. Ho, I.S., Hannan, F., Guo, H.F., Hakker, I., Zhong, Y. 2007. Distinct functional domains of neurofibromatosis type 1 regulate immediate versus long-term memory formation. J. Neurosci. 27: 6852-7. W ang, Y., Guo, H.-F., Pologruto, T.A., Hannan, F., Hakker, I., Svoboda, K., and Zhong, Y. 2004. Stereotyped odor representation in the mushroom body of Drosophila revealed by GFP-based Ca2+ imaging. J. Neurosci. 24: 6507–6514..Iijima, K., Liu, H.-P., Chiang, A.-S., Konsolaki, M., and Zhong, Y. 2004. Dissecting the pathological effects of human Aβ40 and Aβ42 in Drosophila: A potential model for Alzheimer's disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 6623–6628. Guo, H.-F., Tong, J., Hannan, F., Luo, L., and Zhong, Y. 2000. A neurofibromatosis-1-regulated pathway is required for learning in Drosophila. Nature 403: 895–898.
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We are interested in the neural basis of learning and memory.
Currently, our research is confined to
the following two areas: