The recognition of behaviorally distinct sleep stages in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> uncovers previously obscured homeostatic and circadian control of sleep.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the mechanisms underlying homeostatic sleep regulation is a central unmet goal of sleep science. Our comprehension of such regulation in mammals has required recognizing distinct sleep stages. Drosophila melanogaster is an important genetic model system for studying sleep. Since the discovery of sleep-like states in the fly 25 years ago, the field has treated sleep as a unitary state consisting of any inactivity lasting 5 minutes or longer, despite convergent work suggesting the existence of multiple sleep stages. Here, we establish that three distinct sleep stages in flies can be classified based on simple inactivity duration criteria. We show that the daily initiation of these sleep stages is temporally distinct, with long sleep occurring immediately following the la

SUBMITTER: Abhilash L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12265548 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature