PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Bédécarrats, Alexis
AU  - Chen, Shanping
AU  - Pearce, Kaycey
AU  - Cai, Diancai
AU  - Glanzman, David L.
TI  - RNA from Trained <em>Aplysia</em> Can Induce an Epigenetic Engram for Long-Term Sensitization in Untrained <em>Aplysia</em>
AID  - 10.1523/ENEURO.0038-18.2018
DP  - 2018 May 01
TA  - eneuro
PG  - ENEURO.0038-18.2018
VI  - 5
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/ENEURO.0038-18.2018.short
4100  - http://www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/ENEURO.0038-18.2018.full
SO  - eNeuro2018 May 01; 5
AB  - The precise nature of the engram, the physical substrate of memory, remains uncertain. Here, it is reported that RNA extracted from the central nervous system of Aplysia given long-term sensitization (LTS) training induced sensitization when injected into untrained animals; furthermore, the RNA-induced sensitization, like training-induced sensitization, required DNA methylation. In cellular experiments, treatment with RNA extracted from trained animals was found to increase excitability in sensory neurons, but not in motor neurons, dissociated from naïve animals. Thus, the behavioral, and a subset of the cellular, modifications characteristic of a form of nonassociative long-term memory (LTM) in Aplysia can be transferred by RNA. These results indicate that RNA is sufficient to generate an engram for LTS in Aplysia and are consistent with the hypothesis that RNA-induced epigenetic changes underlie memory storage in Aplysia.