A bidirectional relationship between sleep and oxidative stress in Drosophila

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2005206
• Publication Date: 2018-07-12T13:26:45Z
• Authors: Vanessa M. Hill; Reed M. O’Connor; Gunter B. Sissoko; Ifeoma S. Irobunda; Stephen Leong; Julie C. Canman; Nicholas Stavropo...; Mimi Shirasu-Hiza
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; QH301-705.5; Longevity; Oxidative stress--Pathophysiology; Antioxidants; 03 medical and health sciences; Short Reports; Genetics; Pathology; Animals; Drosophila Proteins; Biology (General); Neurons; 0303 health sciences; Immunity; Drosophila melanogaster--Genetics; Sleep--Physiological aspects--Research; Oxidative Stress; Drosophila melanogaster; Gene Expression Regulation; Gene Knockdown Techniques; FOS: Biological sciences; Mutation; RNA Interference; Reactive Oxygen Species; Sleep

Although sleep appears to be broadly conserved in animals, the physiological functions of sleep remain unclear. In this study, we sought to identify a physiological defect common to a diverse group of short-sleeping Drosophila mutants, which might provide insight into the function and regulation of sleep. We found that these short-sleeping mutants share a common phenotype of sensitivity to acute oxidative stress, exhibiting shorter survival times than controls. We further showed that increasing sleep in wild-type flies using genetic or pharmacological approaches increases survival after oxidative challenge. Moreover, reducing oxidative stress in the neurons of wild-type flies by overexpression of antioxidant genes reduces the amount of sleep. Together, these results support the hypothesis that a key function of sleep is to defend against oxidative stress and also point to a reciprocal role for reactive oxygen species (ROS) in neurons in the regulation of sleep.