@article{f8dd50af8753479a882f486ea07c2857,
title = "Disrupting the hippocampal Piwi pathway enhances contextual fear memory in mice",
abstract = "The Piwi pathway is a conserved gene regulatory mechanism comprised of Piwi-like proteins and Piwi-interacting RNAs, which modulates gene expression via RNA interference and through interaction with epigenetic mechanisms. The mammalian Piwi pathway has been defined by its role in transposon control during spermatogenesis; however, despite an increasing number of studies demonstrating its expression in the nervous system, relatively little is known about its function in neurons or potential contribution to behavioural regulation. We have discovered that all three Piwi-like genes are expressed in the adult mouse brain, and that viral-mediated knockdown of the Piwi-like genes Piwil1 and Piwil2 in the dorsal hippocampus leads to enhanced contextual fear memory without affecting generalised anxiety. These results implicate the Piwi pathway in behavioural regulation in the adult mammalian brain, likely through modulation of plasticity-related gene expression.",
keywords = "Epigenetics, Learning, Memory, Molecular biology, Noncoding RNA, Plasticity",
author = "Leighton, {Laura J.} and Wei Wei and Marshall, {Paul R.} and Ratnu, {Vikram Singh} and Xiang Li and Zajaczkowski, {Esmi L.} and Spadaro, {Paola A.} and Nitin Khandelwal and Arvind Kumar and Bredy, {Timothy W.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge grant support from the NIH (1R21MH103812 and 5R01MH105398-TWB) and the NHMRC (APP1069570 and APP1083468-TWB). L.J.L. is supported by postgraduate scholarships from the Westpac Scholars Trust and the Australian Government Research Training Program. We would also like to thank Ms. Rowan Tweedale for helpful editing of the manuscript. L.J.L. W.W. X.L. and T.W.B. designed the experiments. N.K. and A.K. designed and assembled shRNA constructs. L.J.L. V.S.R. E.L.Z. and P.A.S. conducted experiments. L.J.L. wrote the paper. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript. Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge grant support from the NIH ( 1R21MH103812 and 5R01MH105398 -TWB) and the NHMRC ( APP1069570 and APP1083468 -TWB). L.J.L. is supported by postgraduate scholarships from the Westpac Scholars Trust and the Australian Government Research Training Program. We would also like to thank Ms. Rowan Tweedale for helpful editing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019",
year = "2019",
month = may,
doi = "10.1016/j.nlm.2019.04.002",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "161",
pages = "202--209",
journal = "Neurobiology of Learning and Memory",
issn = "1074-7427",
publisher = "Academic Press Inc.",
}