The role of Drosophila mushroom body signaling in olfactory memory

The mushroom bodies of the Drosophila brain are important for olfactory lea rning and memory. To investigate the requirement for mushroom body signalin g during the different phases of memory processing, we transiently inactiva ted neurotransmission through this region of the brain by expressing a temp erature-sensitive allele of the shibire dynamin guanosine triphosphatase, w hich is required for synaptic transmission. Inactivation of mushroom body s ignaling through alpha/beta neurons during different phases of memory proce ssing revealed a requirement for mushroom body signaling during memory retr ieval, but not during acquisition or consolidation.