Epigenetics in learning and memory
While the cellular and molecular mechanisms of
DNA methylation
One current hypothesis for how DNA methylation contributes to the storage of memories is that dynamic DNA methylation changes occur temporally to activate transcription of genes that encode for proteins whose role is to stabilize memory. Another hypothesis is that changes in DNA methylation that occur even early in life can persist through adulthood, affecting how genes are able to be activated in response to different environmental cues.
The first demonstration about the role of epigenetics in learning in memory was the landmark work of Szyf and Meaney (PMID 15220929) where they showed that licking and grooming by mother rats (maternal care) prevented methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene. When these pups become adults, they respond better to stressors than rats who, as pups, were not licked and groomed by their mothers and instead had a buildup of methylation in the glucocorticoid receptor gene.
DNMTs and memory
Miller and Sweatt demonstrated that rats trained in a contextual
Feng et al. created double conditional
When DNMTs are inhibited in the prefrontal cortex, recall of existing memories is impaired, but not the formation of new ones. This indicates that DNA methylation may be circuit-specific when it comes to regulating the formation and maintenance of memories.[6]
DNA methylation targets
The memory suppressor gene,
Demethylation and memory
While DNA methylation is necessary to inhibit genes involved in
The mechanism behind this experience-dependent demethylation response was previously not fully understood, with some evidence showing that DNMTs may be involved in demethylation.
Methyl-binding domain proteins (MBDs)
Mice that have genetic disruptions for
Methylation and learning and memory disorders
Changes in expression of genes associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by an impaired extinction of traumatic memory, may be mediated by DNA methylation.[10] In people with
Histone methylation
Methylation of histones may either increase or decrease gene transcription depending on which histone is modified, the amino acid that is modified, and the number of methyl groups added.[11] In the case of lysine methylation, three types of modifications exist: monomethylated, dimethylated, or trimethylated lysines. The di- or trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9) has been associated with transcriptionally silent regions, while the di- or trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4) is associated with transcriptionally active genes.[12]
Histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation and memory formation
The hippocampus is an important brain region in memory formation. H3K4 trimethylation is associated with active transcription. In contextual fear conditioning experiments in rats, it was found that levels of H3K4 trimethylation increases in the
The change in methylation state of histones at the location of specific gene promoters, as opposed to just genome-wide, is also involved in memory formation.
Histone 3 lysine 9 dimethylation and memory formation
Histone H3 lysine 9 dimethylation is associated with
Histone methylation and other epigenetic modifications
Histone methylation marks are also correlated with other epigenetic modifications, such as
Histone acetylation
Acetylation involves the replacement of a hydrogen with an acetyl group. In a biological context, acetylation is most often associated with the modification of proteins, specifically histones. The acetylation reaction is most often catalyzed by enzymes that contain histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity.
Histone acetyltransferases (HATs)
HATs are enzymes responsible for the acetylation of amino acids. HATs acetylate by converting the
Chromatin remodeling
Acetylation is one of the main mechanisms implicated in the process of chromatin remodeling. Chromatin remodeling affects the regulation of gene expression by altering the relationship between nucleosomes and DNA. Acetylation of histones removes positive charge, which reduces the level of interaction between the formerly positively charged histone and the negatively charged phosphate groups of the DNA wrapped around the nucleosome complex. This alteration in charges causes a relaxation of DNA from the nucleosome, this relaxed section is seen to have higher levels of gene expression than non acetylated regions.
Acetylation as an epigenetic marker
Patterns of histone acetylation have been useful as a source of epigenetic information due to their ability to reflect changes in transcription rates and the maintenance of gene expression patterns. This acetylation code can then be read and provide generous information for the study of inheritance patterns of epigenetic changes like that of learning, memory and disease states.
Acetlylation as a mechanism for learning and memory
The role of epigenetic mechanisms and chromatin remodeling has been implicated in both synaptic plasticity and neuronal gene expression. Studies with histone deactylase complex inhibitors like
ERK/MAPK cascade
Studies have shown that the
Long term potentiation
- NMDA-R activation increases phosphorylation of ERK and Acetylation of Histone H3
- Memory requires proper NMDA-R function
- Memory conditioning increases phosphorylation of ERK and acetylation of Histone H3
- ERK is regulated by phosphorylation
- Histone H3 acetylation is regulated by ERK
- Histone H4 is not regulated by ERK
- HDAC inhibitorsenhance LTP, this is dependent on rate of transcription
- HDAC inhibitors do not affect NMDA-R
Histone deacetylation
HDACs' role in CREBP-dependent transcriptional activation
Studies conclude that HDAC inhibitors such as
HDAC2
The role of individual HDACs in learning and memory is not well understood, but
Overexpression (OE) of HDAC1 and HDAC2 in mice resulted in decreased levels of acetylated lysines. After exposing these mice to context and tone-dependent fear conditioning experiments, HDAC1 OE mice did not change, but HDAC2 OE mice showed a decrease in freezing behavior, suggesting impairment in memory formation. On the other hand, mice with HDAC2 knockouts (KO) illustrated increased freezing levels compared to wild-type (WT) mice while HDAC1 displayed similar freezing behaviors to WTs. In summary, Guan et al.[19] have shown that:
- HDAC2, not HDAC1, regulates synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity. HDAC2 overexpression decreases spine density in CA1 pyramidal neurons and dentate gyrus granule cells but HDAC2 KO show an increase in spine density.
- Long term potentiation in CA1 neurons was not observed in HDAC2 OE mice but was easily induced in HDAC2 KO mice. LTP was not altered between HDAC1 KO and OE mice.
- HDAC2 suppresses neuronal gene expression. HDAC2 interacted more than HDAC1 with specific memory-forming promoters such as Fos, and GLUR1.
- CoREST, a co-repressor, associates with HDAC2 not HDAC1.
- SAHA, a HDAC inhibitor, increased freezing of HDAC2 OE mice in contextual fear and tone dependent experiments, but did not effect HDAC2 KO mice suggesting HDAC2 is major target of SAHA
HDAC3
HDAC3 is also a negative regulator of long term potentiation formation. McQuown et al.[25] have shown that:
- KOs of HDAC3 in dorsal hippocampus resulted in enhanced memory during object location tests (OLM).
- RGFP136, HDAC3 inhibitor, enhances LTP for object recognition and location
- RGFP136 enhances LTP through CBP-dependent mechanism
- HDAC3 deletions showed increased c-Fosexpression
- HDAC3 interacts with NCoR[which?] and HDAC4to perform its role in memory formation
HDACs' role in CNS disorders
Research has shown that HDACs and HATs play a crucial role in central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as Rett syndrome.[26]
- Friedreich's ataxia
- Spinal muscular atrophy
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy
- Huntington's disease
- Spinocerebellar ataxias
- Dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy
- Alzheimer's disease
- Niemann Pick type C disease
Role of DNA topoisomerase II beta in learning and memory
During a new learning experience, a set of genes is rapidly expressed in the brain. This induced gene expression is considered to be essential for processing the information being learned. Such genes are referred to as immediate early genes (IEGs). DNA topoisomerase II beta (TOP2B) activity is essential for the expression of IEGs in a type of learning experience in mice termed associative fear memory.[27] Such a learning experience appears to rapidly trigger TOP2B to induce double-strand breaks in the promoter DNA of IEG genes that function in neuroplasticity. Repair of these induced breaks is associated with DNA demethylation of IEG gene promoters allowing immediate expression of these IEG genes.[27]
The double-strand breaks that are induced during a learning experience are not immediately repaired. About 600 regulatory sequences in promoters and about 800 regulatory sequences in enhancers appear to depend on double strand breaks initiated by topoisomerase 2-beta (TOP2B) for activation.[28][29] The induction of particular double-strand breaks are specific with respect to their inducing signal. When neurons are activated in vitro, just 22 of TOP2B-induced double-strand breaks occur in their genomes.[30]
Such TOP2B-induced double-strand breaks are accompanied by at least four enzymes of the non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA repair pathway (DNA-PKcs, KU70, KU80 and DNA LIGASE IV) (see Figure). These enzymes repair the double-strand breaks within about 15 minutes to two hours.[30][31] The double-strand breaks in the promoter are thus associated with TOP2B and at least these four repair enzymes. These proteins are present simultaneously on a single promoter nucleosome (there are about 147 nucleotides in the DNA sequence wrapped around a single nucleosome) located near the transcription start site of their target gene.[31]
The double-strand break introduced by TOP2B apparently frees the part of the promoter at an RNA polymerase-bound transcription start site to physically move to its associated enhancer (see regulatory sequence). This allows the enhancer, with its bound transcription factors and mediator proteins, to directly interact with the RNA polymerase paused at the transcription start site to start transcription.[30][32]
Contextual fear conditioning in the mouse causes the mouse to have a long-term memory and fear of the location in which it occurred. Contextual fear conditioning causes hundreds of DSBs in mouse brain medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus neurons (see Figure: Brain regions involved in memory formation). These DSBs predominately activate genes involved in synaptic processes, that are important for learning and memory.[33]
Roles of ROS and OGG1 in memory and learning
As reviewed by Massaad and Klann in 2011[35] and by Beckhauser et al. in 2016,[36] reactive oxygen species (ROS) are required for normal learning and memory functions.
One of the most frequent
The occurrence of 8-OHdG in neurons appears to have a role in memory and learning. The DNA glycosylase oxoguanine glycosylase (OGG1) is the primary enzyme responsible for the excision of 8-OHdG in base excision repair. However, OGG1, which targets and associates with 8-OHdG, also has a role in adaptive behavior, which implies a physiologically relevant role for 8-OHdG combined with OGG1 in cognition in the adult brain.[40][41] In particular, heterozygous OGG1+/- mice, with about half the protein level of OGG1, exhibit poorer learning performance in the Barnes maze compared to wild-type animals.[42]
In adult somatic cells, such as neurons, DNA methylation typically occurs in the context of CpG dinucleotides (
The total number of
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