Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 27, Issue 20, Pages 5384-5393Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0108-07.2007
Keywords
Drosophila; sleep; learning; memory; Shaker; hyperkinetic
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In mammals, sleep is thought to be important for health, cognition, and memory. Fruit flies share most features of mammalian sleep, and a recent study found that Drosophila lines carrying loss-of-function mutations in Shaker ( Sh) are short sleeping, suggesting that the Sh current plays a major role in regulating daily sleep amount. The Sh current is potentiated by a beta modulatory subunit coded by Hyperkinetic ( Hk). Here, we demonstrate that severe loss-of-function mutations of Hk reduce sleep and do so primarily by affecting the Sh current. Moreover, we prove, using a transgenic approach, that a wild-type copy of Hk is sufficient to restore normal sleep. Furthermore, we show that short-sleeping Hk mutant lines have a memory deficit, whereas flies carrying a weaker hypomorphic Hk allele have normal sleep and normal memory. By comparing six short-sleeping Sh lines with two normal sleeping ones, we also found that only alleles that reduce sleep also impair memory. These data identify a gene, Hk, which is necessary to maintain normal sleep, and provide genetic evidence that short sleep and poor memory are linked.
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