%0 Journal Article %T Engram-specific transcriptome profiling of contextual memory consolidation %J - %D 2019 %R https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09960-x %X Sparse populations of neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus are causally implicated in the encoding of contextual fear memories. However, engram-specific molecular mechanisms underlying memory consolidation remain largely unknown. Here we perform unbiased RNA sequencing of DG engram neurons 24£¿h after contextual fear conditioning to identify transcriptome changes specific to memory consolidation. DG engram neurons exhibit a highly distinct pattern of gene expression, in which CREB-dependent transcription features prominently (P£¿=£¿6.2£¿¡Á£¿10£¿13), including Atf3 (P£¿=£¿2.4£¿¡Á£¿10£¿41), Penk (P£¿=£¿1.3£¿¡Á£¿10£¿15), and Kcnq3 (P£¿=£¿3.1£¿¡Á£¿10£¿12). Moreover, we validate the functional relevance of the RNAseq findings by establishing the causal requirement of intact CREB function specifically within the DG engram during memory consolidation, and identify a novel group of CREB target genes involved in the encoding of long-term memory %U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09960-x