Search bioRxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2025.12.30.697040

The osm-9 mutant strain is defective in the recovery phase of long-term memory dynamics

Ma, N. I.·Saifuddin, M. F. A.·Munoz Lobato, F.·L'Etoile, N. D.
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Memory by definition is the storage of learned information from experiences where it can be recalled in the future. Memory is essential for organisms of any level, from single celled bacteria to complex mammals like whales in order for them to adapt and survive. The storage of long term memory is known to start in the hippocampus but long-term memory is not simply contained in this one region in the brain but across multiple regions including the cortex, amygdala and nucleus accumbens. This diversity of locations that memory can be located in prompts the question of what molecular components within the nervous system are required to establish and maintain long term memory. To dive into this, we utilize the simple neuroanatomy of C. elegans with only 302 neurons to examine the effects of mutations of specific genes on the success of forming long term memories. Previous work established that C. elegans with defective OSM-9 proteins are unable to sustain an aversion to butanone (an odor that they are innately attracted to) after it is paired once with a negative stimulus. This helped established the importance of OSM-9 proteins for short term memory but how can the OSM-9 protein - a homolog to human TRPV5 and TRPV6 commonly associated with recognising pain and thermoregulation rather than memory - play a part within the dynamics of space training induced long term memory? Here we show that the loss of the OSM-9 protein affects the dynamics of memory consolidation, which is the process by which short term memory is converted to long term memory. Previously, OSM-9 protein was implicated in the formation of short term memory which was termed adaptation. Here, we examine spaced training induced memory that is resistant to re-feeding and depends on sleep. This study indicates that after spaced training, the OSM-9 protein is required for the conversion of short term memory to long term memory and not acquisition. Furthermore, we confirmed that 30 minutes on food after spaced training, Wild type C. elegans seem to lose their memory but gain it back 120 minutes after, emphasizing the dynamics of memory and revealing that it is not a smoothly continuous process. Our results demonstrate that TRPV containing channels plays a role in stabilizing memory for long term use. Analyzing the specific point in which the OSM-9 protein plays a part in reactivating memory may help pave the way to a more detailed understanding of memory dynamics and the processes involved in recovering memory. Future work includes: identifying where the loss of memory goes, whether its masked or truly disappears can further explain what the OSM-9 protein supports when long term memory is formed; understanding if OSM-9 is directly involved with the process of "reviving" the memory or is it involved in the development of the C. elegans circuit which allows for this process to occur.

Explore related subjects

neurosciencePreprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Ma, N. I., Saifuddin, M. F. A., Munoz Lobato, F., L'Etoile, N. D.. 2025-12-30. The osm-9 mutant strain is defective in the recovery phase of long-term memory dynamics. https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.30.697040

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Attention Across Scales: From Individual Variation to Social Hierarchies and Brain Networks in Semi-Free-Ranging Macaques

Attention is a fundamental brain function supporting perception, decision-making, and social behavior, and its dysfunction profoundly impairs daily life. It is both dynamic and stable, varying across observations and individuals, changing across the lifespan, and being shaped by social and environmental experience. Yet capturing this complexity remains a central challenge in neuroscience. Here, we integrated longitudinal behavioral assessments of semi-free-ranging macaques living in naturalistic social groups with resting-state fMRI. We quantified performance across days, ages, and social hierarchies and related it to intrinsic brain organization. Distinct attentional phenotypes emerged, including individuals with reduced attentional control. Performance followed an inverted-U lifespan trajectory, improving from childhood to adulthood before declining. Social status modulated attentional performance. Critically, nonlinear lifespan trajectories and associations with individual attentional differences were most clearly expressed in frontoparietal connectivity. Together, these findings reveal how sustained attention is organized across scales, providing a biological framework for its individual diversity, social modulation, and neural basis.

neuroscience↗
bioRxiv2026

Decoding natural scenes from patterned optogenetic responses in mouse visual cortex

A central challenge in developing visual cortical prostheses is to determine how visual stimuli should be transformed into effective patterns of cortical stimulation. Although advances in stimulation technologies, including optogenetics, provide increasingly precise control over cortical activity, it remains unclear whether artificially evoked activity can reproduce the information content of naturally evoked visual representations. Here we establish a quantitative framework for evaluating visual encoding strategies by decoding cortical responses evoked by natural vision and patterned optogenetic stimulation. We developed a novel dual-modal paradigm in awake mice to bridge the gap between endogenous photostimulation and artificial network driving. By co-expressing the high-performance calcium indicator GCaMP6s and the red-shifted, ultra-sensitive opsin rsChRmine-oScarlet in the primary visual cortex (V1), we successfully translated dynamic natural movie frames into patterned, spatiotemporal optogenetic stimulation. Quantitative comparisons of macro-scale dynamics demonstrated that this patterned optogenetic injection evokes cortical states highly comparable and representationally aligned with those driven by actual visual photostimulation. To systematically evaluate the fidelity of these responses, we developed STAR, a deep learning model featuring spatial and temporal attention mechanisms, and successfully reconstructed the frames of natural movies from V1 signals under both experimental modalities. Collectively, our results demonstrate that complex sensory information can be both naturally encoded and synthetically injected into V1 circuits with high decoding fidelity. This work provides an empirical and computational proof-of-concept for intelligent, closed-loop biomimetic encoders, establishing a robust framework for next-generation cortical visual neuroprostheses and bidirectional brain-machine interfaces.

neuroscience↗
bioRxiv2026

Why Is Spontaneous Blink Timing Informative? An Adaptive Scheduling Perspective

Spontaneous eye blinks have long been linked to cognitive processing, yet how task demands shape blink timing and its relationship to behavioral performance remains unclear. We examined spontaneous blink behavior in 576 adults performing two variants of the Continuous Performance Task (CPT). Blink occurrence and timing were most strongly modulated by the experimental condition in the more demanding CPT-AX task, whereas their association with response time was stronger in the CPT-X task, where more consistent blink timing predicted faster responses. This dissociation suggests that task structure changes not only blink behavior but also the behavioral relevance of blink timing. These findings are consistent with an adaptive scheduling account of spontaneous blinking and provide a conceptual framework for understanding when and why blink timing contains chronometric information about ongoing cognition.

neuroscience↗