What happens in our body when we fall asleep? A study with fruit flies ( Drosophila melanogaster ) has found a gene, dubbed "insomniac" that regulates much of the process. The work is published in the journal Neuron and its authors state that sleep mechanisms can be very similar in humans and flies.
The researchers found that animals with mutations in the gene showed sleep disorders, for example, while flies sleep an average of 927 minutes a day (about 15 hours), the mutated only spent 317 minutes on this activity. Also, the insomniac flies lived much less than the normal ones.
The "insomniac" gene works by activating a protein degradation pathway in neurons through a complex called CuI3. This work is the first that relates sleep to a process of elimination of proteins in cells. "Sleep is a fundamental behavior in animals," indicate the authors. "Our study offers many clues about its control at the molecular level and can help us understand and treat sleep disorders." Researchers have also indicated that although humans apparently have little in common with fruit flies, the mechanisms that regulate sleep and wakefulness may be very similar.
