Single cell RNAseq of brian cells in the cortical amygdala with social transmitted food memory. Single cell RNAseq of brian cells in the cortical amygdala with social transmitted food memory

Social communication guides decision making that is essential for survival. Social transmission of food preference (STFP) is an ecologically relevant memory paradigm in which an animal learns a desirable food odor from other animals in a social context. How food-preference memory is acquired, consolidated, and stored is unclear. Here, we identify a circuit involving the posteromedial nucleus of the cortical amygdala (COApm) as a computational center that integrates social and sensory olfactory inputs for long-term STFP memory consolidation. Blocking synaptic signaling by the COApm circuit selectively abolished STFP memory consolidation without impairing memory acquisition, storage, or recall. STFP memory consolidation by the COApm depends on synaptic inputs from the accessory olfactory bulb and on synaptic outputs to the anterior olfactory nucleus and requires protein synthesis, suggesting a gene expression mechanism. Deep single-cell and spatial transcriptomics revealed robust but distinct gene expression signatures induced by STFP memory formation in the COApm consistent with synapse restructuring. Our data thus define a neural circuit for consolidation of a socially communicated long-term memory, thereby mechanistically distinguishing protein synthesis-dependent memory consolidation from memory acquisition, storage, or retrieval. Overall design: To study the molecular and cellular basis of memory consolidation, we applied social transmitted food memory paradigm on C57BL/6J mice with tdTomato-expressing retro AAVs injected into the accessory Olfactory bulb and performed single cell RNAseq for the posteromedial nucleus of the cortical amygdala.

社会沟通指导着生存必需的决策制定。食物偏好社会传递（Social Transmission of Food Preference, STFP）是一种具有生态学相关性的记忆范式，动物可在社会情境中从同类处习得合意的食物气味。目前尚不清楚食物偏好记忆是如何被获取、巩固与存储的。本研究鉴定出一条以大脑皮层杏仁核后内侧核（posteromedial nucleus of the cortical amygdala, COApm）为计算中枢的神经环路，该环路可整合社会与感觉嗅觉输入，以介导长期STFP记忆的巩固过程。阻断COApm环路的突触信号传递，可选择性地消除STFP记忆的巩固过程，而不会影响记忆的获取、存储或提取。COApm介导的STFP记忆巩固依赖于来自副嗅球（accessory olfactory bulb）的突触输入，以及投射至前嗅核（anterior olfactory nucleus）的突触输出，且需要蛋白质合成，这提示其存在基因表达调控机制。深度单细胞与空间转录组学分析显示，STFP记忆形成可在COApm中诱导出强烈且独特的基因表达特征，该特征与突触重构过程相符。因此，本研究的数据明确了一条介导社会传递型长期记忆巩固的神经环路，并从机制上将依赖蛋白质合成的记忆巩固过程与记忆的获取、存储或提取区分开来。实验整体设计：为探究记忆巩固的分子与细胞基础，本研究对向副嗅球注射了表达tdTomato的逆行腺相关病毒（retro AAVs）的C57BL/6J小鼠，应用食物偏好社会传递记忆范式，并对其大脑皮层杏仁核后内侧核进行了单细胞RNA测序。