Optogenetic activation of short neuropeptide F (sNPF) neurons induces sleep in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Sleep abnormalities have widespread and costly public health consequences, yet we have only a rudimentary understanding of the events occurring at the cellular level in the brain that regulate sleep. Several key signaling molecules that regulate sleep across taxa come from the family of neuropeptide transmitters. For example, in Drosophila melanogaster, the neuropeptide Y (NPY)-related transmitter short neuropeptide F (sNPF) appears to promote sleep. In this study, we utilized optogenetic activation of neuronal populations expressing sNPF to determine the causal effects of precisely timed activity in these cells on sleep behavior. Combining sNPF-GAL4 and UAS-Chrimson transgenes allowed us to activate sNPF neurons using red light. We found that activating sNPF neurons for as little as 3 s a

SUBMITTER: Juneau ZC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6520144 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature