Detecting 'sleeping genes' in fruit flies

While scientists and physicists know what happens if you don't sleep 6 to 8 hours a night, they still haven't explained what really controls our sleeping needs. Researchers at the Pennsylvania Medical University finally answered, at least for fruit flies. In a recent study of fruit flies, they identified the sleep control gene.

Amita Sehgal, a professor of neuroscience and an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), said: 'We spend, or should spend, a third of our lives sleeping. It is an interesting idea that we need to spend a lot of time sleeping like that. At the same time, sleep deprivation has serious health consequences and weakens nerve function. '

The study is published in the latest issue of Science.

Fruit flies usually sleep 12 hours a day. Sehgal and her colleagues studied 3,500 fruit flies and found mutations on flies that slept very little (1 to 2 hours a day) or completely without sleep. Sleepless flies carry mutations on a gene that Sehgal and colleagues named Sleepness. They believe that the Sleepness gene, which codes for a protein, affects whether the potassium ion channels in the brain open or close. When these tubes are open, the brain works and the flies will wake up. When they are closed, the flies sleep. This protein in flies with insomnia is usually less.

In a recent study of fruit flies, scientists have identified sleep control genes (Photo: iStockphoto).

The lack of sleep leaves many consequences.The lifespan of sleepless fruit flies is only half that of those without mutations. They also experience dysfunction and restlessness in their short sleep.

Sleep activity is governed by two processes: the biological clock (circadian) and homeostatic (homeostatic) . The biological clock regulates the duration of sleep, while the mechanism of homeostasis affects the need for sleep. At the same time, the gene Sleepness affects the mechanism of homeostasis.

Sleep is not just for humans - this physiological phenomenon appears on all creatures from flies and dogs to humans. This shows the necessity of sleep for life. Inadequate sleep and poor sleep are increasing problems in industrialized countries. In the United States alone, about 70 million people suffer from chronic insomnia, which causes reduced productivity, affecting quality of life and can even lead to death.

Sehgal said: 'In the distant future, we hope that the same human gene will be isolated and will not only expand the understanding of human sleep, but also become the target for all kinds. insomnia treatment drug '.

In addition to Sehgal, other authors of the article include Kyunghee Koh, William J. Joiner, Mark N. Wu, Zhifeng Yue, and Corinne J. Smith, all from Penn and HHMI. National health practitioners, University of Pennsylvania and the Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation funded the study.