Cristina M. Alberini

Research Summary

A fascinating aspect of the learning and memory process is its biological basis. Both short- and long-term memories are thought to be expressed by changes in the efficacy of synaptic transmission. In long-term memory, these changes, which are associated with structural modifications of synapses, depend on an initial and brief temporal phase during which gene expression is essential (consolidation phase). This is a universal feature of long-term memory processes, found in several different forms of memory and conserved throughout evolution.

Which classes of genes are essential for the formation of long-term synaptic plasticity and which are important for the consolidation of long-term memory?

In the invertebrate system, Aplysia californica, I have identified a regulatory immediate early gene which is essential for the consolidation phase of long-term synaptic plasticity related to a simple form of learning. In mammals, in contrast, far less is known about the genes important for the formation of long-term memory and this is the main goal of the lab. We are taking the following approaches to identify and characterize genes critical in long-term synaptic plasticity and long-term memory consolidation in the mammalian brain: 1) We are screening the mammalian brain for homologues of the invertebrate genes which we already know to be important in some forms of memory storage in Aplysia; 2) we hope to identify molecules associated with long-term synaptic plasticity (in vitro and in vivo) and with the establishment of long-term memory (behavioral) in mammals by gene differential screenings and recombinant gene expression.

Publications

C.M. Alberini, M. Ghirardi, R.Metz, E.R. Kandel. C\EBP is an immediate early gene required for the consolidation of long-term facilitation in Aplysia. Cell 76, 1099. 1994.
C.M. Alberini, M. Ghirardi, Y. Huang, P.V. Nguyen, E.R. Kandel. A molecular switch for the consolidation of long-term memory: cAMP inducible gene expression. Annals of the New York Acad. Sci. Vol. 758, 261. 1995.


The gene control region of a typical eucaryotic gene. The promoter is the DNA sequence where the general transcription factors and the polymerase assemble. The regulatory sequences serve as binding sites for gene regulatory proteins, whose presence on the DNA affects the rate of transcription initiation. We are now focusing on the characterization of regulatory proteins that control gene expression in long-term synaptic plasticity and long-term memory.