Appetitive learning requires the alpha1-like octopamine receptor oamb in the drosophila mushroom body neurons

Abstract

Associative learning is a fundamental form of behavioral plasticity. Octopamine plays central roles in various learning types in invertebrates; however, the target receptors and underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Drosophila provides a powerful system to uncover the mechanisms for learning and memory. Here, we report that OAMB in the mushroom body neurons mediates the octopamine's signal for appetitive olfactory learning. The octopamine receptorOAMBhas two isoforms (OAMB-K3 and OAMB-AS), differing in the third cytoplasmic loop and downstream sequence. The activation of eachOAMBisoform increases intracellular Ca2+similar to the alpha1 adrenergic receptor, while OAMB-K3 additionally stimulates cAMP production. The oamb-null mutants showed severely impaired learning in appetitive olfactory conditioning that tests flies' capacity to learn and remember the odor associated with sugar reward. This deficit was also seen in the hypomorphic mutant with reducedOAMBexpression in themushroombodies, the brain structure crucial for olfactory conditioning. Consistently, the oamb mutant's learning phenotype was fully rescued by conditional expression of either OAMB isoform in the mushroom body αβ and γ neurons. These results indicate that the OAMB receptor is a key molecule mediating the octopamine's signal for appetitive olfactory learning and its functional site is the mushroom body αβ and γ neurons. This study represents a critical step forward in understanding the cellular mechanism and neural circuit mediating reward learning and memory. © 2013 the authors.