Final Activity Report Summary - FLEMING ARRAY+IMAGE (Genomic and imaging approaches to intracellular signaling) The aim of this proposal was the exploitation of Functional Genomics, Bioinformatics and Confocal Microscopy to address crucial Biological questions in Neurobiology regarding the global responses of neurons to signals under physiological conditions of neuronal function exemplified by the processes of learning and memory or under conditions of disease. The field of Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics is an area of explosive growth in modern biology and aims to identify and detail the expressed complement of a genome in different cell types of the organism, or under different conditions. We used these novel methods and approaches to identify and characterize novel genes involved in Drosophila learning and memory with apparent roles in disturbances of these processes in humans. Because of the high functional conservation of genes and functions between Drosophila and humans our results bear directly on improving the human condition. Specifically, genes essential for memory formation and storage were identified that become activated by the gene neuralised whose activity has been implicated in in human sysndromes such as Allagil and Casadil. In addition we have identified a protein that is essential for development of the common learning dissability Neurofibromatosis 1.
