PUBLICATIONS
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Takakura, M., Nakagawa, R., Ota, T., Kimura, Y., Ng, M.Y., Alia, A.G., Okuno, H., Hirano, Y.
"Rpd3/CoRest-mediated activity-dependent transcription regulates the flexibility in memory updating in Drosophila."
Nature communications, 12, 628, 2021.
Awata H, Takakura M, Kimura Y, Iwata I, Masuda T, Hirano Y*
“The Neural Circuit Linking Mushroom Body Parallel Circuits Induces Memory Consolidation in Drosophila”
PNAS, 116, 16080-16085, 2019.
Hirano Y*, Ihara K, Masuda T, Yamamoto T, Iwata I, Takahashi A, Awata H, Nakamura N, Takakura M, Suzuki Y, Horiuchi J, Okuno H, Saitoe M*.
Shifting transcriptional machinery is required for long-term memory maintenance and modification in Drosophila mushroom bodies.
Nature Communications. 7:13471, 2016
Goto GH, Zencir S, Hirano Y, Ogi H, Ivessa A, Sugimoto K*.
Binding of Multiple Rap1 Proteins Stimulates Chromosome Breakage Induction during DNA Replication.
PLoS Genet. e1005283: 2015
Yamazaki D, Horiuchi J, Ueno K, Ueno T, Saeki S, Matsuno M, Naganos S, Miyashita T, Hirano Y. Nishikawa H, Taoka M, Yamauchi Y, Isobe Y, Honda Y, Kodama Y, Masuda T, Saitoe M*.
Glial dysfunction causes age-related memory impairment in Drosophila.
Neuron. 84:753-63, 2014.
Hirano Y*, Masuda T, Naganos S, Matsuno M, Ueno K, Miyashita T, Horiuchi J, Saitoe M*.
Fasting launches CRTC to facilitate long-term memory formation in Drosophila.
Science. 339:443-6, 2013
Ueno K, Naganos S, Hirano Y, Horiuchi J, Saitoe M*.
Long-term enhancement of synaptic transmission between antennal lobe and mushroom body in cultured Drosophila brain.
J Physiol. 591:287-302,2013
Hirano Y, Kuriyama Y, Miyashita T, Horiuchi J, Saitoe M*.
Reactive oxygen species are not involved in the onset of age-related memory impairment in Drosophila.
Genes Brain Behav. 11:79-86, 2012
Fukunaga K, Hirano Y, Sugimoto K*.
Subtelomere-binding protein Tbf1 and telomere-binding protein Rap1 collaborate to inhibit localization of the Mre11 complex to DNA ends in budding yeast.
Mol Biol Cell. 23:347-59, 2012
Hirano Y, Fukunaga K, Sugimoto K*:
Inhibitory roles of Rif1 and Rif2 in localization of Tel1 to DNA ends.
Molecular Cell. 33:312-22, 2009
Hirano Y, Sugimoto K*:
Requirement of budding yeast Rad18 for repair of HO-induced double-strand breaks.
DNA repair. 8:51-9, 2009
Hirano Y, Sugimoto K*:
Cdc13 telomere capping decreases Mec1 association but does not affect Tel1 association with DNA ends.
Mol Biol Cell. 18:2026-36, 2007
Hirano Y, Sugimoto K*:
ATR homolog Mec1 controls association of DNA polymerase zeta-Rev1 complex with regions near a double-strand break.
Curr Biol. 16:586-90, 2006
Nakada D, Hirano Y, Tanaka Y, Sugimoto K*:
Role of the C terminus of Mec1 checkpoint kinase in its localization to sites of DNA damage.
Mol Biol Cell. 16:5527-5235, 2005
Nakada D, Hirano Y, Tanaka Y, Sugimoto K*:
Requirement of the Mre11 complex and exonuclease 1 for activation of the Mec1 signaling pathway.
Mol Cel Biol. 24:10016-10025, 2004
REVIEWS
Hirano Y*, Saitoe M*.
Hunger and memory; CRTC coordinates long-term memory with the physiological state, hunger.
Commun Integr Biol. 6(5):e25152, 2013
Hirano Y*, Saitoe M*:
Hunger-driven modulation in brain functions.
Brain Nerve. 66:41-48, 2014
SELECTED WORKS
THE NEURAL CIRCUIT FOR MEMORY CONSOLIDATION
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Aug 6;116(32):16080-16085
https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/16080.long
We study repeatedly, this is what we do before taking an exam. Why is that? The fruit fly has the similar tendency, to strengthen memory by repeated learning. We tried to understand this phenomenon by investigating the trace of the neural activation during the repeated learning. We showed that the specific neurons are activated only by repeated learning, which is significant in memory consolidation by specifically inducing gene expression. Our results suggest that the basic principle of the neuronal mechanism how the brain can perceive the repetition, and link to the molecular mechanism of memory.
THE EPIGENETIC REGULATION FOR MEMORY CONSOLIDATION
Nature Communications. 2016 Nov 14, 7, 13471
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13471
Memory consolidation is mediated by de novo gene expression through the transcriptional activators. In addition to the transcriptional activators, the proteins regulating the chromatin state, so-called the epigenetic regulators will be significant for memory consolidation. We characterize global transcriptional and epigenetic changes that occur during memory storage in the Drosophila mushroom bodies (MBs), structures important for memory, by developing a novel technique to collect the MB nuclei. We further showed that the transcriptional requirement shifts during memory storage, which affects the memory state whether it can be modified or not. Our results demonstrate the dynamic nature of stored memory and its regulation by shifting transcription systems in the MBs.
MILD FASTING ENHANCES MEMORY THROUGH TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVATION
Science. 2013 Jan 25;339 (6118)
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/339/6118/443.long
The brain controls our body, and our body should report the current state to the brain, to adjust the brain functions. We revealed that one of the body state, mild hunger enhances memory functions. Mild hunger reduces insulin signaling, which in turn activates transcriptional activator, CREB/CRTC in the memory center, mushroom body. Our study provided the important link between the body state to the memory functions.
