Highlights d Most mouse Cre driver lines tested exhibited variable rates of germline recombination d Germline recombination exhibits parental sex bias and target locus selectivity d Similar principles apply to multiple organisms and recombinase systems d Guidelines are provided for detecting and minimizing unwanted germline recombination

Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)] is a DNA-binding protein of the Notch-signaling pathway, which is important for developmental processes and has been implicated in behavior plasticity. It acts as a transcriptional activator in the Notch pathway, but also as a repressor in the absence of Notch signaling. Our previous work has shown that Notch signaling contributes to long-term memory formation in the Drosophila adult brain. In the present report, we show that Su(H) null heterozygous mutants perform normally for learning, early memory, and anesthesia-resistant memory, whereas long-term memory is impaired. Interestingly, we find overexpressing wild- type Su(H) also causes long-term memory defect in Drosophila. Significantly, induction of a heat-shock inducible Su(H)(+) transgene before training can fully rescue the memory defect of Su(H) mutants, thereby demonstrating an acute role for Su(H) in behavioral plasticity. We show that Su(H) is widely expressed in the adult brain. Transgenic expression of wild-type Su(H) in the Mushroom Bodies is sufficient to rescue the memory defect of Su(H) mutants. Our data clearly demonstrate that transcriptional activity of Su(H) in Notch signaling in the mushroom bodies is critical for the formation of long-term memory.

No abstract

Alerts: Sign up at www.eneuro.org/alerts to receive customized email alerts when the fully formatted version of this article is published. 1) Manuscript Title (50 word maximum):Mouse Lines with Cre-mediated Recombination in Retinal Amacrine Cells 2) Abbreviated Title (50 character maximum)Cre Lines with Recombination in Amacrines3) List of all Author Names and Affiliations in order as they would appear in the published article: