Extracellular vesicles aid in the transfer of long-term associative memory between Caenorhabditis elegans

Extracellular vesicles aid in the transfer of long-term associative memory between Caenorhabditis elegans | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Extracellular vesicles aid in the transfer of long-term associative memory between Caenorhabditis elegans Kavita Babu, Monmita Bhar, Tanumoy Nandi, Hari Narayanan, Kamal Kishore This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886432/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Memory formation is necessary for the survival of animals across phyla. Here, we elucidate the mechanism underlying the formation of long-term associative memory (LTAM) formed by treating Caenorhabditis elegans with a volatile chemoattractant and heat. Previous work has shown that training animals with a paradigm involving heat and isoamyl alcohol (IAA) simultaneously, causes C. elegans to lose their attraction to IAA. In this study, we elaborate on the mechanism behind this LTAM formation and suggest that during training with heat and IAA, C. elegans release extracellular vesicles (EVs) that upon being taken up by the same trained animals or their untrained counterparts causes the organism to lose attraction to IAA. Our data suggests that the vesicles are highly specific to the training paradigms used and differ with differing cues. Finally, we show that this mechanism of transfer of LTAM appears to be conserved between C. elegans and C. briggsae allowing for both intra and interspecies transfer of memory. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Learning and memory Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Olfactory system Long-term associative memory extracellular vesicles C. elegans C. briggsae Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Bharetalsuppmaterialsinglepdf.pdf Bhar at el Supplemental Material Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6886432","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":477015056,"identity":"03e10568-e646-4d2e-bd1e-3ca174984d4c","order_by":0,"name":"Kavita Babu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA6UlEQVRIie3QMYvCMBjG8bcIdSm4RoT6FdrJSe+rpBScKjjecEPhQBdx7sfodrg98oIuFdcODoLQWRGOG4qYnm5K6m035E+yhPwgb4hMpn+YUBvV8qgByPspagl+iS1fJ3Qjjvfaw9rTzOfjx67bE9EJ+3JArSksHmtIx4k8YFX4i2SUIpiEJDJJnGiIS0MJ2GyleUViNUVOxI6OtApFLvyW5tEesgR160hHhMBywoEiBGmrf6gj7eQAbOZFuJgVXjWL42dBrCViG3we3793/a9meDj9lAPXXTOfdeQhddmK/wJMJpPJ9KQrt7heFoHkuu0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7527-3666","institution":"IISc, Bnagalore","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kavita","middleName":"","lastName":"Babu","suffix":""},{"id":477015057,"identity":"3402e103-5577-43f0-9444-aed97e590e66","order_by":1,"name":"Monmita Bhar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IISc, Bangalore","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Monmita","middleName":"","lastName":"Bhar","suffix":""},{"id":477015058,"identity":"71f56ba0-4cb4-410e-8949-df329c4c95f1","order_by":2,"name":"Tanumoy Nandi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IISc, Bangalore","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tanumoy","middleName":"","lastName":"Nandi","suffix":""},{"id":477015059,"identity":"4005feb4-e3f9-4c43-abe3-ad0260a76aa9","order_by":3,"name":"Hari Narayanan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IISc","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hari","middleName":"","lastName":"Narayanan","suffix":""},{"id":477015060,"identity":"a5f5e40b-758e-4dee-8b33-f516519b6ffe","order_by":4,"name":"Kamal Kishore","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IISc, Bangalore","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Kamal","middleName":"","lastName":"Kishore","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-13 08:46:14","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886432/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886432/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":85541198,"identity":"c4332942-ab2f-416e-8abb-107b216136b7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-27 06:47:06","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3141414,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"Bharetalmanuscriptsinglepdf.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6886432/v1_covered_a6f9d347-2532-4838-9d3d-3a2fa403fe00.pdf"},{"id":85541090,"identity":"629d9498-f44a-4555-b4f5-439456402439","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-27 06:39:01","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":10689327,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Bhar at el Supplemental Material","description":"","filename":"Bharetalsuppmaterialsinglepdf.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6886432/v1/7f7dd499c0e66836f615a797.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Extracellular vesicles aid in the transfer of long-term associative memory between Caenorhabditis elegans","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Long-term associative memory, extracellular vesicles, C. elegans, C. briggsae","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886432/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886432/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Memory formation is necessary for the survival of animals across phyla. 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