Methods of identifying genes involved in memory formation using small interfering RNA(siRNA)

摘要

The present invention relates to a method of identifying a gene or gene product associated with transcription dependent memory formation in an animal comprising the steps of: (a) administering to said animal sufficient small interfering RNA (siRNA) specific for the gene to inhibit gene function; (b) training said animal under conditions sufficient to induce transcription dependent memory formation in a normal untreated animal; and (c) determining the level of transcription dependent memory formation induced by the training of the treated animal. The present invention provides methods of using small interfering PNAs (siRNA) in hippocampus to identify genes and gene product whose inhibition affects contextual and temporal long-term (LTM) memory, but not short-term memory (STM).