The cortical amygdala consolidates a socially transmitted long-term memory

Zhihui Liu (), Wenfei Sun, Yi Han Ng, Hua Dong, Stephen R. Quake () and Thomas C. Südhof ()
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Zhihui Liu: Stanford University School of Medicine
Wenfei Sun: Stanford University School of Medicine
Yi Han Ng: Stanford University School of Medicine
Hua Dong: Stanford University School of Medicine
Stephen R. Quake: Stanford University
Thomas C. Südhof: Stanford University School of Medicine

Nature, 2024, vol. 632, issue 8024, 366-374

Abstract: Abstract Social communication guides decision-making, which is essential for survival. Social transmission of food preference (STFP) is an ecologically relevant memory paradigm in which an animal learns a desirable food odour from another animal in a social context, creating a long-term memory1,2. How food-preference memory is acquired, consolidated and stored is unclear. Here we show that the posteromedial nucleus of the cortical amygdala (COApm) serves as a computational centre in long-term STFP memory consolidation by integrating social and sensory olfactory inputs. Blocking synaptic signalling by the COApm-based circuit selectively abolished STFP memory consolidation without impairing memory acquisition, storage or recall. COApm-mediated STFP memory consolidation depends on synaptic inputs from the accessory olfactory bulb and on synaptic outputs to the anterior olfactory nucleus. STFP memory consolidation requires protein synthesis, suggesting a gene-expression mechanism. Deep single-cell and spatially resolved transcriptomics revealed robust but distinct gene-expression signatures induced by STFP memory formation in the COApm that are consistent with synapse restructuring. Our data thus define a neural circuit for the consolidation of a socially communicated long-term memory, thereby mechanistically distinguishing protein-synthesis-dependent memory consolidation from memory acquisition, storage or retrieval.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07632-5

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