There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
Behavior depends on coordinated activity across multiple brain regions. Within such
networks, highly connected hub regions are assumed to disproportionately influence
behavioral output, although this hypothesis has not been systematically evaluated.
Previously, by mapping brain-wide expression of the activity-regulated gene c-fos,
we identified a network of brain regions co-activated by fear memory. To test the
hypothesis that hub regions are more important for network function, here, we simulated
node deletion in silico in this behaviorally defined functional network. Removal of
high degree nodes produced the greatest network disruption (e.g., reduction in global
efficiency). To test these predictions in vivo, we examined the impact of post-training
chemogenetic silencing of different network nodes on fear memory consolidation. In
a series of independent experiments encompassing 25% of network nodes (i.e., 21/84
brain regions), we found that node degree accurately predicted observed deficits in
memory consolidation, with silencing of highly connected hubs producing the largest
impairments.