University of California, Riverside

Tau's Dual Role: Essential for Long-Term Memory Formation, Yet Disrupted by Amyloid Beta in Alzheimer's

- New research reveals tau protein is essential for organizing and preserving long-term memories by coordinating engram cell activity during learning. - A separate study shows amyloid beta competes with tau for microtubule binding sites, potentially displacing tau and triggering cellular transport breakdown in Alzheimer's. - Controlled tau phosphorylation at T205 helps stabilize memory traces, while disease-associated abnormal tau disrupts both memory formation and retrieval. - Findings suggest future Alzheimer's treatments could target the a-beta/tau interaction on microtubules rather than solely removing protein clumps.