Absolute bouton number at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) at segment A3 in muscle 6/7 is significantly higher in S6kIIign-Δ24-3 third instar larvae compared to controls. The bouton number per muscle area is also significantly higher in the mutant larvae compared to controls. Both type 1s and type 1b boutons show an increase in absolute bouton number at the NMJ and an increase in bouton number per muscle area.
S6kIIign-Δ24-3 homozygous and heterozygous flies show reduced operant conditioning in terms of heat box learning in both genders. S6kIIign-Δ24-3/Df(1)R29 and S6kIIign-Δ24-3/S6kIIign-Δ58-1 transheterozygotes also show this phenotype. Thermo-reception is not affected in any of these genotypes.
S6kIIign-Δ24-3 homozygous flies show an impairment in pavlovian olfactory discrimination learning, with a 40% lower performance index in 3 min memory. The performance of S6kIIign-Δ24-3/+ flies is not significantly different from wild type. S6kIIign-Δ58-1/Y; S6kIIt6.5/+ flies perform as well as wild-type flies in pavlovian oflactory conditioning memory tests.