1. Neuroscience

Acute control of the sleep switch in Drosophila reveals a role for gap junctions in regulating behavioral responsiveness

  1. Michael Troup
  2. Melvyn HW Yap
  3. Chelsie Rohrscheib
  4. Martyna J Grabowska
  5. Deniz Ertekin
  6. Roshini Randeniya
  7. Benjamin Kottler
  8. Aoife Larkin
  9. Kelly Munro
  10. Paul Shaw
  11. Bruno van Swinderen  Is a corresponding author
  1. The University of Queensland, Australia
  2. Washington University in St. Louis, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37105
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Cite this article
  1. Michael Troup
  2. Melvyn HW Yap
  3. Chelsie Rohrscheib
  4. Martyna J Grabowska
  5. Deniz Ertekin
  6. Roshini Randeniya
  7. Benjamin Kottler
  8. Aoife Larkin
  9. Kelly Munro
  10. Paul Shaw
  11. Bruno van Swinderen
(2018)
Acute control of the sleep switch in Drosophila reveals a role for gap junctions in regulating behavioral responsiveness
eLife 7:e37105.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37105
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  3. Download .RIS

Abstract

Sleep is a dynamic process in most animals, involving distinct stages that probably achieve multiple functions for the brain. Before sleep functions can be initiated, it is likely that behavioral responsiveness to the outside world needs to be reduced first, even while animals are still awake. Recent work in Drosophila has uncovered a sleep switch in the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB) of the fly's central brain, but it is unknown if these sleep-promoting neurons also govern the acute need to ignore salient stimuli in the environment during sleep transitions. We found that optogenetic activation of the sleep switch suppressed behavioral responsiveness to mechanical stimuli, even in awake flies, indicating a broader role for these neurons in regulating arousal. The dFB-mediated suppression mechanism and its associated neural correlates requires innexin6 expression, suggesting that the acute need to reduce sensory perception when flies fall asleep is mediated in part by electrical synapses.

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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Michael Troup

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Melvyn HW Yap

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Chelsie Rohrscheib

    Queensland Brain Insitute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Martyna J Grabowska

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1727-7714

  5. Deniz Ertekin

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Roshini Randeniya

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1340-750X

  7. Benjamin Kottler

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4551-5791

  8. Aoife Larkin

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Kelly Munro

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  10. Paul Shaw

    School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St Louis, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  11. Bruno van Swinderen

    Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
    For correspondence
    b.vanswinderen@uq.edu.au
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-6552-7418

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01 NS076980)

  • Melvyn HW Yap
  • Paul Shaw
  • Bruno van Swinderen

National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1065713)

  • Michael Troup
  • Chelsie Rohrscheib
  • Aoife Larkin
  • Bruno van Swinderen

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2018, Troup 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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  1. Michael Troup
  2. Melvyn HW Yap
  3. Chelsie Rohrscheib
  4. Martyna J Grabowska
  5. Deniz Ertekin
  6. Roshini Randeniya
  7. Benjamin Kottler
  8. Aoife Larkin
  9. Kelly Munro
  10. Paul Shaw
  11. Bruno van Swinderen
(2018)
Acute control of the sleep switch in Drosophila reveals a role for gap junctions in regulating behavioral responsiveness
eLife 7:e37105.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37105

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37105

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