Mushroom bodies are a higher order center for sensory integration, learning and memory of the insect brain. Memory is generally subdivided into different phases. In the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, mushroom bodies have been shown to play a central role in both short- and long-term memory. In D. melanogaster, the gene 2mit codes a transmembrane protein carrying an extracellular Leucin-rich-repeat domain, which is highly transcribed in the mushroom and ellipsoid bodies of the adult fly brain and has a role in the early phase of memory. Utilizing coimmunoprecipitation experiments and mass spectrometry analyses, we have shown that 2MIT interacts with Arginine kinase in adult fly heads. Arginine kinase belongs to the family of Phosphagen kinases and plays a fundamental role in energy homeostasis. Using the GAL4/UAS binary system, we demonstrated that a downregulation of Arginine kinase mainly driven in the mushroom bodies affects short-term memory of Drosophila adult flies, in a courtship conditioning paradigm. As 2mit ^c03963 hypomorphic mutants showed comparable results when analyzed with the same assay, these data suggest that 2MIT and Arginine kinase are both involved in the same memory phenotype, likely interacting at the level of mushroom bodies. 2MIT and Arginine kinase are conserved among insects, the implications of which, along with their potential roles in other insect taxa are also discussed.

蘑菇体是昆虫大脑的感觉整合，学习和记忆的高级中心。内存通常分为不同的阶段。在果蝇果蝇的模型生物中，蘑菇体已显示在短期和长期记忆中都起着核心作用。在黑腹果蝇中，基因2mit编码一个跨膜蛋白，该蛋白带有一个富含细胞外白蛋白的重复结构域，该结构域在成年果蝇大脑的蘑菇和椭球体中高度转录，并在记忆的早期阶段起作用。利用免疫共沉淀实验和质谱分析，我们已经证明2MIT与成年蝇头中的精氨酸激酶相互作用。精氨酸激酶属于磷酸根激酶家族，在能量稳态中起着基本作用。使用GAL4 / UAS二元系统，我们证明了在求偶条件范式中主要由蘑菇体驱动的精氨酸激酶的下调会影响果蝇成年果蝇的短期记忆。作为2mit ^c03963当用相同的分析方法分析时，亚同型突变体显示出可比较的结果，这些数据表明2MIT和精氨酸激酶都参与相同的记忆表型，可能在蘑菇体的水平上相互作用。2MIT和精氨酸激酶在昆虫中是保守的，其含义以及它们在其他昆虫分类中的潜在作用也得到了讨论。