Brain Cells Share Information With Virus-Like Capsules
The Arc gene, which is critical for animals’ ability to learn from experiences, has an incredible origin story.
Updated: January 12, 2018, 5:05 P.M. ET
When Jason Shepherd first saw the structures under a microscope, he thought they looked like viruses. The problem was: he wasn’t studying viruses.
Shepherd studies a gene called Arc which is active in neurons, and plays a vital role in the brain. A mouse that’s born without Arc can’t learn or form new long-term memories. If it finds some cheese in a maze, it will have completely forgotten the right route the next day. “They can’t seem to respond or adapt to changes in their environment,” says , who works at the University of Utah, and has been studying Arc for years. “Arc is really
