Pan-neural expression of drk^{dsRNA.Sym.Scer\UAS} under the control of Scer\GAL4^elav-C155 does not result in lethality.

Reduction of drk in the mushroom bodies through expression of drk^{dsRNA.Sym.Scer\UAS} under the control of either Scer\GAL4^c747 or Scer\GAL4^c739 does not alter sensorimotor responses to electric shock and aversive odors, task-relevant non-associative behaviors, or the gross structure of the mushroom bodies. However, CS/US pairing-specific learning is reduced. Whereas learning of animals expressing drk^{dsRNA.Sym.Scer\UAS} is indistinguishable from controls after 8 CS/US pairings, significant differences are uncovered after limiting the pairings to 6 or 4. Similar results are found when drk^{dsRNA.Sym.Scer\UAS} is expressed under the mushroom body specific Scer\GAL4^Mef2.247 and the more broadly expressed, but enriched within a subset of α and γ lobe neurons Scer\GAL4^Tab2-201Y driver. In contrast, abrogation in ellipsoid body neurons (through Scer\GAL4^Aph-4-c232) does not affect learning.