The transcriptional regulation of memory

VERÓNICA DE LA FUENTE; GISELA ZALCMAN, ANGELES ZALLES, RAMIRO FREUDENTHAL, ARTURO ROMANO; NOEL FEDERMAN

Frontiers

Año: 2016 p. 118

978-2-88919-865-8

Memory is the capacity for retaining and reviving information, facts, events, impressions, etc., andof recalling or recognizing previous experiences (Kandel et al., 2013). The formation of humanmemories involves a series of complicated biochemical processes, many of which are not fullyunderstood. Short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term memories have different biological andmolecular substrates and therefore represent distinct forms of memory. A short-term memory isthe retention of information for a brief time (seconds to minutes) without creation of the neuralchanges for later recall. In contrast, a long-term memory (hours to weeks to years) occurs whenchanges in neural pathways result in the storage of information that can be recalled weeks, months,or even years later. There are thousands of molecules presumably involved in memory. However,recent data implicate several families of transcription factors and epigenetic processes that appearcritical in the regulation of memory. Transcription factors are already well-known to regulate thebasal process of transcription, the selective activation of genes, and/or the repression of genes.Albeit, we further acknowledge the importance of transcriptional processes for both memoryconsolidation and reconsolidation, and recognize there are still a lot of unanswered questions: Forexample, what are the key transcription factors involved in the regulation of memory? What aretheir gene targets and how do they mediate memory formation? How is transcription regulated overtime? How does epigenetics contribute to memory? Can the context or our experience influence thepattern of transcription and regulate the formation of memory?