Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is an X-linked dominant disorder and is one of the leading causes of intellectual disabilities including Autism. Fragile X Syndrome is caused by the loss or silencing of the fmr1 gene, which causes non-functional and non-expressed Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP); the loss of FMRP leads to enhanced metabotropic glutamate signalling of group five receptors (mGluR5), which causes defects in cognition and sensory processing abilities. This experiment targets mGluR5 signalling in D. melanogaster which lack the fmr1 gene through curcumin supplementation, and its ability to rescue deficient cognitive and sensory processing abilities were examined through a courtship conditioning paradigm and a climbing assay. The curcumin was distributed at different concentrations in order to determine its optimal concentration. While the data from the tests are still in the collection process, if the results demonstrate that curcumin can successfully mitigate deficits associated with FXS in Drosophila, curcumin may have potential to treat deficits associated with Fragile X Syndrome and contribute to the widening body of research regarding this condition.
