Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Drosophila memory mutant amnesiac

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

POPULATIONS of Drosophila melanogaster can be taught to avoid specific odours which they have experienced in conjunction with electric shock1,2, and several single-gene mutants have been isolated which fail to learn this task (ref. 3, and our unpublished data). Here we describe a mutant, amnesiac, which learns normally but forgets four times as quickly as wild-type flies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Quinn, W. G., Harris, W. A. & Benzer, S. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 71, 708–712 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Dudai, Y. J. comp. Physiol. 114, 68–89 (1976),

    Google Scholar 

  3. Dudai, Y., Jan, Y. N., Byers, D., Quinn, W. G. & Benzer, S. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 1684–1688 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lewis, E. B. & Bacher, F. Drosophila Information Service 43, 193 (1968).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Quinn, W. G. & Dudai, Y. Nature 262, 576–577 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Merriam, J. M. Drosophila Information Service 4, 101 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Benzer, S. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 58, 1112–1119 (1967).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Horridge, G. A. Nature 193, 697–698 (1962).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540

    WILLIAM G. QUINN, PATRICIA P. SZIBER & RONALD BOOKER

Authors
  1. WILLIAM G. QUINN
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. PATRICIA P. SZIBER
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. RONALD BOOKER
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

QUINN, W., SZIBER, P. & BOOKER, R. The Drosophila memory mutant amnesiac. Nature 277, 212–214 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277212a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/277212a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation