Figure 2. Stromalin knockdown in dopamine neurons during development enhances memory acquisition and retention.

(A) Knockdown of Stromalin in DAn increased memory retention 1–6hr after training. Control: TH-GAL4>+, UAS-Dcr2. Stromalin^RNAi: TH-GAL4>UAS-SA^RNAi, UAS-Dcr2. Student’s t-test, *p<0.05, **p<0.01. n=8–10. Mean±SEM.

(B) Expression of stromalin^RNAi in DAn increased memory acquisition when flies were trained with 5 or 6 electric shock pulses. Memory acquisition was measured by testing 3min memory after varying the number of electric shock pulses received during training. Control: TH-GAL4>+, UAS-Dcr2. Stromalin^RNAi: THGAL4>UAS-SA^RNAi, UAS-Dcr2. Student’s t-test, *p<0.05, ***p<0.001. n=8–10. Mean±SEM.

(C) After normalizing for differences in memory acquisition by varying the number of electric shock pulses received by each genotype during training, Stromalin KD in DAn did not alter memory retention. Control: TH-GAL4>+, UAS-Dcr2. Stromalin^RNAi: TH-GAL4>UAS-SA^RNAi, UAS-Dcr2. n=9–11. Mean±SEM.

(D) Stromalin KD in DAn increased 3hr memory scores in adult flies only when stromalin^RNAi was expressed during development. The temporal control of stromalin^RNAi expression using incubation temperature and tub-gal80^ts (TARGET) is schematized above the bar graphs. Control: tub>gal80^ts, TH-GAL4>+, UASDcr2. Stromalin^RNAi tub>gal80^ts, TH-GAL4>UAS-SA^RNAi, UAS-Dcr2. Student’s ttest, **p<0.01. n=8–9. Mean±SEM.

(E) Stromalin KD in DAn during the 3^rd instar larval stage was necessary and sufficient for the enhanced memory phenotype in adult flies. The temporal control of stromalin^RNAi expression for windows of Drosophila development is schematized above bar graphs. Control: tub>gal80^ts, TH-GAL4>+, UAS-Dcr2. Stromalin^RNAi tub>gal80^ts, TH-GAL4>UAS-SA^RNAi, UAS-Dcr2. Student’s t-test, *p<0.05, **p<0.01. n=8–14. Mean±SEM.

See also Figure S2.