GENE DISCOVERY IN DROSOPHILA - NEW INSIGHTS FOR LEARNING AND MEMORY

Genetic approaches have been used to investigate increasingly complex biological systems. Here we review the current state of genetic analys is of learning and memory in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. Em erging findings support two main themes. First, discovery and manipula tion of genes involved with behavioral plasticity in genetically acces sible systems such as D. melanogaster enables dissection of the bioche mical, cellular, anatomical, and behavioral pathways of learning and m emory. Second, because core cellular mechanisms of simple forms of lea rning are evolutionarily conserved, biological pathways discovered in invertebrates are likely to be conserved in vertebrate systems as well .