Epigenetic mechanisms, including histone modification and DNA methylation, are known to regulate memory formation. Zovkic et al. now reveal that histone variant exchange — another form of epigenetic regulation in which variant histones are incorporated into nucleosomes — has a role in memory consolidation. They found that fear conditioning induces changes in the levels of H2A.Z (a variant of histone H2A) in nucleosomes of memory-related genes in mice. Furthermore, H2A.Z depletion in the hippocampus and cortex enhanced early and late stages of memory consolidation, respectively.
References
Zovkic, I. B. et al. Histone H2A.Z subunit exchange controls consolidation of recent and remote memory. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13707 (2014)
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Whalley, K. Epigenetic exchange mechanisms. Nat Rev Neurosci 15, 698 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3843
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3843
