1. Computational and Systems Biology
  2. Neuroscience
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Regulation of sleep homeostasis by sexual arousal

  1. Esteban J Beckwith
  2. Quentin Geissmann
  3. Alice S French
  4. Giorgio F Gilestro  Is a corresponding author
  1. Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Research Article
  • Cited 32
  • Views 6,976
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Cite this article as: eLife 2017;6:e27445 doi: 10.7554/eLife.27445

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

  1. Esteban J Beckwith

    Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3373-1833

  2. Quentin Geissmann

    Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6546-4306

  3. Alice S French

    Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Giorgio F Gilestro

    Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    giorgio@gilest.ro
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7512-8541

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.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Leslie C Griffith, Brandeis University, United States

Publication history

  1. Received: April 4, 2017
  2. Accepted: August 28, 2017
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: September 12, 2017 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: October 6, 2017 (version 2)

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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