Regulation of sleep homeostasis by sexual arousal
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Abstract
In all animals, sleep pressure is under continuous tight regulation. It is universally accepted that this regulation arises from a two-process model, integrating both a circadian and a homeostatic controller. Here we explore the role of environmental social signals as a third, parallel controller of sleep homeostasis and sleep pressure. We show that, in Drosophila melanogaster males, sleep pressure after sleep deprivation can be counteracted by raising their sexual arousal, either by engaging the flies with prolonged courtship activity or merely by exposing them to female pheromones.
Article and author information
Author details
Esteban J Beckwith
Giorgio F Gilestro
Funding
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/M003930/1)
- Alice S French
- Giorgio F. Gilestro
European Molecular Biology Organization (ALTF 57-2014)
- Esteban J Beckwith
H2020 European Research Council (705930)
- Esteban J Beckwith
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J014575/1)
- Quentin Geissmann
- Giorgio F. Gilestro
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2017, Beckwith et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Regulation of sleep homeostasis by sexual arousal
eLife 6:e27445.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27445
Further reading
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- Neuroscience
Molecular and circuit mechanisms for balancing competing drives are not well understood. While circadian and homeostatic mechanisms generally ensure sufficient sleep at night, other pressing needs can overcome sleep drive. Here, we demonstrate that the balance between sleep and sex drives determines whether male flies sleep or court, and identify a subset of octopaminergic neurons (MS1) that regulate sleep specifically in males. When MS1 neurons are activated, isolated males sleep less, and when MS1 neurons are silenced, the normal male sleep suppression in female presence is attenuated and mating behavior is impaired. MS1 neurons do not express the sexually dimorphic FRUITLESS (FRU) transcription factor, but form male-specific contacts with FRU-expressing neurons; calcium imaging experiments reveal bidirectional functional connectivity between MS1 and FRU neurons. We propose octopaminergic MS1 neurons interact with the FRU network to mediate sleep suppression by male sex drive.
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- Computational and Systems Biology
- Neuroscience
Sexual arousal in flies counteracts the effects of sleep deprivation.
