Figure 3.

The Drosophila KDM6B ortholog, Utx, is required in neurons for normal memory and behavior

(A) Short term (STM) and long term (LTM) courtship memory was assessed upon MB-specific expression (R14H06-Gal4) of two independent Utx RNAi lines (Utx^RNAi1 and Utx^RNAi2) and their genetic controls (control 1 and control 2). Boxplots show the distribution of courtship indices (CIs) for naive (N) and trained (T) male flies aged 5 days. Memory was observed when a significant reduction in CI occurred between naive and trained conditions of the same genotype (Kruskal Wallis test). All controls show a significant reduction in courtship in trained vs. naive groups, while Utx RNAi knockdown flies did not. At least 30 flies were tested per condition.

(B) Naive courting behavior was pooled from short- and long-term memory assays and compared between MB-specific Utx RNAi knockdown flies and their genetic controls. At least 60 male flies aged 5 days were tested.

(C and D) MB-specific Utx RNAi knockdown caused reduced daily activity (C) and increased sleep (D) compared to genetic controls, but these differences were only significant for Utx^RNAi1 (t test). n = 32 flies for each genotype.

(E) No morphological defects were found following MB-specific knockdown of Utx compared to their genetic controls. MB morphology was consistent in at least ten brains for each genotype. Scale bar represents 50 μm. Data are represented as mean ± SEM. ^∗p < 0.05, ^∗∗p < 0.01, ^∗∗∗p < 0.0001.