據(jù)7月18日的《科學》（Science）雜志報道說，他們已經(jīng)在蠅類中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個叫做“無眠”（sleepless）的基因,，該基因是正常睡眠過程所必需的,。Sleepless 是直接與睡眠調(diào)節(jié)有關的第2 個基因,。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)增廣了我們對睡眠調(diào)節(jié)過程（對所有動物都是至關重要的）的知識，并可能最終幫助人類改善睡眠的質(zhì)量,。
Kyunghee Koh 及其同事發(fā)現(xiàn),，缺乏sleepless 基因編碼蛋白的突變蠅類出現(xiàn)了每日睡眠時間的極端縮減（可高達85% ），而有些則根本沒有睡眠,。無眠蛋白水平適度減少的蠅類所受到的影響沒有以上的那樣嚴重,，但是在被剝奪睡眠之后其恢復性睡眠期變得較短。研究人員提示,，無眠蛋白在腦中被釋放出來后通過降低神經(jīng)細胞膜的興奮性而引發(fā)睡眠的欲望,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
Science，Vol. 321. no. 5887, pp. 372 - 376,，Kyunghee Koh,，Amita Sehgal
Identification of SLEEPLESS, a Sleep-Promoting Factor
Kyunghee Koh,1* William J. Joiner,1* Mark N. Wu,2* Zhifeng Yue,1 Corinne J. Smith,1 Amita Sehgal1
Sleep is an essential process conserved from flies to humans. The importance of sleep is underscored by its tight homeostatic control. Through a forward genetic screen, we identified a gene, sleepless, required for sleep in Drosophila. The sleepless gene encodes a brain-enriched, glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein. Loss of SLEEPLESS protein caused an extreme (>80%) reduction in sleep; a moderate reduction in SLEEPLESS had minimal effects on baseline sleep but markedly reduced the amount of recovery sleep after sleep deprivation. Genetic and molecular analyses revealed that quiver, a mutation that impairs Shaker-dependent potassium current, is an allele of sleepless. Consistent with this finding, Shaker protein levels were reduced in sleepless mutants. We propose that SLEEPLESS is a signaling molecule that connects sleep drive to lowered membrane excitability.
1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
2 Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
