Journal
PEERJ
Volume 4, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PEERJ INC
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1971
Keywords
Motor learning; Habit; Operant learning; FoxP; Skill learning; Procedural memory; Motor adaptation; Egocentric strategy
Categories
Funding
- Swiss National Science Foundation [SNF: PAOOP3_124141]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [DFG:BR 1892/6-1, BR 1892/7-1]
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Tethering a fly for stationary flight allows for exquisite control of its sensory input, such as visual or olfactory stimuli or a punishing infrared laser beam, A torque meter measures the turning attempts of the tethered fly around its vertical body axis, By punishing, say, left turning attempts (in a homogeneous environment), one can train a fly to restrict its behaviour to right turning attempts. It was recently discovered that this form of operant conditioning (called operant self-learning), may constitute a form of motor learning in Drosophila. Previous work had shown that Protein Kinase C (PKC) and the transcription factor dFoxP were specifically involved in self-learning, but not in other forms of learning. These molecules are specifically involved in various forms of motor learning in other animals, such as compulsive biting in Aplysia, song-learning in birds, procedural learning in mice or language acquisition in humans. Here we describe our efforts to decipher which PKC gene is involved in self-learning in Drosophila We also provide evidence that motorneurons may be one part of the neuronal network modified during self-learning experiments. The collected evidence is reminiscent of one of the simplest, clinically relevant forms of motor learning in humans, operant reflex conditioning, which also relies on motorneuron plasticity.
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