Heat shock proteins, in particular Hsp70, play a central role in proteostasis in eukaryotic cells. Due to its chaperone properties, Hsp70 is involved in various processes after stress and under normal physiological conditions. In contrast to mammals and many Diptera species, inducible members of the Hsp70 family in Drosophila are constitutively synthesized at a low level and undergo dramatic induction after temperature elevation or other forms of stress. In the courtship suppression paradigm used in this study, Drosophila males that have been repeatedly rejected by mated females during courtship are less likely than naive males to court other females. Although numerous genes with known function were identified to play important roles in long-term memory, there is, to the best of our knowledge, no direct evidence implicating Hsp70 in this process. To elucidate a possible role of Hsp70 in memory formation, we used D. melanogaster strains containing different hsp70 copy numbers, including strains carrying a deletion of all six hsp70 genes. Our investigations exploring the memory of courtship rejection paradigm demonstrated that a low constitutive level of Hsp70 is apparently required for learning and the formation of short and long-term memories in males. The performed transcriptomic studies demonstrate that males with different hsp70 copy numbers differ significantly in the expression of a few definite groups of genes involved in mating, reproduction, and immunity in response to rejection. Specifically, our analysis reveals several major pathways that depend on the presence of hsp70 in the genome and participate in memory formation and consolidation, including the cAMP signaling cascade.

热休克蛋白，特别是 Hsp70，在真核细胞的蛋白质稳态中发挥着核心作用。由于其伴侣特性，Hsp70 参与应激后和正常生理条件下的各种过程。与哺乳动物和许多双翅目物种相比，果蝇中 Hsp70 家族的诱导型成员以低水平组成型合成，并在温度升高或其他形式的应激后经历剧烈诱导。在本研究中使用的求爱抑制范式中，在求爱期间多次被交配雌性拒绝的果蝇雄性比幼稚的雄性果蝇更不可能向其他雌性求爱。尽管许多具有已知功能的基因被确定在长期记忆中发挥重要作用，但据我们所知，没有直接证据表明 Hsp70 参与了这一过程。为了阐明 Hsp70 在记忆形成中的可能作用，我们使用了含有不同hsp70拷贝数的黑腹果蝇菌株，包括携带所有 6 个hsp70基因缺失的菌株。我们对求爱拒绝记忆范式的研究表明，低水平的 Hsp70 显然是雄性学习和短期和长期记忆形成所必需的。进行的转录组学研究表明，具有不同hsp70拷贝数的雄性在涉及交配、繁殖和排斥反应免疫的几组明确基因的表达方面存在显着差异。 具体来说，我们的分析揭示了依赖于基因组中hsp70的存在并参与记忆形成和巩固的几个主要途径，包括 cAMP 信号级联。