TARANIS Functions with Cyclin A and Cdk1 in a Novel Arousal Center to Control Sleep in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Sleep is an essential and conserved behavior whose regulation at the molecular and anatomical level remains to be elucidated. Here, we identify TARANIS (TARA), a Drosophila homolog of the Trip-Br (SERTAD) family of transcriptional coregulators, as a molecule that is required for normal sleep patterns. Through a forward-genetic screen, we isolated tara as a novel sleep gene associated with a marked reduction in sleep amount. Targeted knockdown of tara suggests that it functions in cholinergic neurons to promote sleep. tara encodes a conserved cell-cycle protein that contains a Cyclin A (CycA)-binding homology domain. TARA regulates CycA protein levels and genetically and physically interacts with CycA to promote sleep. Furthermore, decreased levels of Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1), a kin

SUBMITTER: Afonso DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4559600 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature