IUBio

You Must Remember This

Bob bbruner at uclink4.berkeley.edu
Sun Oct 14 14:58:35 EST 2001


On Mon, 15 Oct 2001 01:56:23 +1000, Michael Jameson
<m.jameson at hunterlink.net.au> wrote:

>The paper that is the main focus of the article is "DNA recombination as
>a possible mechanism in declarative memory" by Sandra Pena de Ortiz and
>Yuri Arshavsky, Journal of Neuroscience Research, vol 63, p 72 (2001). A
>second paper is also suggested as further reading, for which I found the
>reference and abstract -
>
>Journal of Theoretical Biology 2001 Jan 21;208(2):145-9
>"Memory and DNA."
>Dietrich A, Been W.
>Institute of Human Genetics, University of Amsterdam, Academic Medical
>Centre, Meibergdreef 15, NL 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
>a.dietrich at amc.uva.nl
>
>A model is presented for the storage of long-term memory. In our model
>consolidation takes place by specific DNA sequences. These DNA sequences
>are obtained by the recombination of DNA in a similar way to that during
>meiosis and the production of immunological antibodies. DNA has the
>potential of the production of large numbers of specific DNA sequences.
>These sequences can be attached to images of neural networks.The
>following considerations lead to the theory: (1)Most of the DNA is not
>used: approximately 3% of our DNA is used. (2)There are no cell
>divisions in the brain after adulthood is reached. Structural DNA
>arrangements will not be altered nor disrupted as a consequence of cell
>division and mitosis. (3)Chromosomal pairing is demonstrated in the
>brain, which could indicate the exchange of DNA. In addition, in our
>first survey experiments we found a positive reaction of components of
>the synaptonemal complex (SC) in the nuclei of brain cells. The SC is
>highly meiosis specific and plays a major role in genetic recombination.
>
>Copyright 2001 Academic Press.
>


I don't _know_ any more about it than what you have posted here. But
judging from the JTB abstract, this seems to be basically speculation.
It is a quite recent article, and the abstract attempting to make the
case provides no evidence for it. 

It is an interesting speculation, and should be easily testable at
this point. Many of the genes involved in immunoglobin gene
arrangements, and other recombination events, are known. They can be
tested in mice to see whether memory defects arise when these genes
are disrupted. 

bob




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