Dynamic histone marks in the hippocampus andcortex facilitate memory consolidation

摘要

Memory consolidation requires a timely controlled interplay between the hippocampus, a brainregion important for memory formation, and the cortex, a region recruited for memory storage.Here we show that memory consolidation is associated with specific epigenetic modificationson histone proteins that have a distinct dynamic in these brain areas. While in the hippocampus,histone post-translational modifications (PTms) are rapidly and transiently activated afterlearning, in the cortex they are induced with delay but persist over time. When these histonePTms are increased in vivo by transgenic intervention or intense training, they facilitate memoryconsolidation. Conversely, when they are pharmacologically blocked, memory consolidation isimpaired. These histone PTms are further associated with the expression of the immediate earlygene zif268, a transcription factor that favours memory consolidation. These findings revealthe spatiotemporal dynamics of histone marks during memory consolidation, and demonstratetheir inherent ‘mnemonic’ property.