piRNAs in the Olfactory Bulb Related to Fear Conditioning can Migrate from the Brain to the Germline

Abstract

Small RNAs have been shown to be crucial in the mechanisms of transgenerational memory. Precisely, piRNAs have previously been thought to only exist in the germline and are related to transgenerational memory. To determine if the offspring inherits memory due to piRNA transmission, we conducted odor fear-conditioning tests and identified a piRNA that increased in abundance. That piRNA is thought to be involved in memory formation of the fear-conditioning test. We then used a virus vector to manipulate a single nucleotide of that piRNA sequence to see if it can migrate from the olfactory bulb to the germline. The data should theoretically indicate whether the mutant piRNA has migrated from the olfactory bulb to the germline of the mice.