The molecular mechanisms underlying memory formation in vertebrates are not well understood, despite their paramount importance to neuroscience. CHARM-Vis aims at investigating changes in the chromatin landscape and transcriptional activity in a prototypical model system for memory formation: visual imprinting in domestic chicks.

During visual imprinting, visually naïve chicks come to recognize an object by being exposed to it. This phenomenon can be reproduced in tightly controlled conditions, thus offering an ideal model for the study of memory formation. Particularly, the project will focus on identifying changes in chromatin landscape and gene transcription within the chick brain following visual imprinting.

Samples from the intermediate and medial mesopallium, a chick forebrain region previously recognized as of crucial importance for visual imprinting, will be analyzed using Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin and single nuclei RNA sequencing. The use of these two technologies will ensure the identification of memory-related molecular events at an unprecedented level of resolution.

Our findings will allow to characterize the molecular mechanisms involved in memory formation, with potential impact on the treatment of mental illness, especially amnesias.