题目：What drives sleep:wake cycles? Cellular and molecular underpinnings in a Drosophila model

报告人：Amita Sehgal ( HHMI, Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia )

时间：2014年04月08日 星期二 13:00-14:00

地点： 北京大学 生命科学学院 邓佑才报告厅 （101室）

邀请人：饶毅

摘要： We use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model to study circadian and homeostatic regulation of sleep:wake behavior. The homeostatic system drives the need to sleep, and therefore controls sleep amount, while the circadian system ensures that sleep occurs with a ~24 hour rhythm.  The molecular and cellular networks underlying these two types of regulation are distinct and yet they also intersect.  In recent work we have mapped a neuronal circuit that conducts signals from the central clock cells in the brain, and drives rhythmic sleep behavior.  The circuit was identified by anatomic mapping and through an unbiased screen for cells involved in behavioral rhythms.  The data reveal an important role for peptidergic signaling in the circadian output pathway.  In other work, we addressed the regulation and role of sleep in early life.  In general, young animals sleep more than adults, and the same is true for Drosophila.  Thus homeostatic mechanisms of sleep may be different in young flies.  We determined the mechanistic basis of high sleep in young flies and have also discovered a function of such sleep.