Gender-dimorphic Regulation of Sleep

 描述（由申请人提供）：睡眠是一种重要的生物学过程，从苍蝇到人类都是如此。对睡眠调节的研究主要集中在两个机制上：控制何时睡觉的昼夜节律机制和调节睡眠时间的稳态机制。然而，其他因素，如性别，也影响睡眠，但性别二态睡眠调节的机制知之甚少。本研究的目的是探索一种新的果蝇神经回路参与男性特有的睡眠调节。我们最近在大脑中发现了一小部分神经元，它们的激活会导致雄性果蝇的睡眠明显减少，但在雌性果蝇中则不然。这是令人兴奋 因为尽管在果蝇中已经发现了几个睡眠调节神经元中心，但这是第一个性别二型觉醒中心的例子。我们的初步数据表明，新发现的唤醒中心在女性存在的情况下促进觉醒，并与表达男性特异性转录因子FruitlessM的神经元进行突触接触，这是男性求偶行为所必需的。为了理解这种新的唤醒中心如何以性别二态的方式调节睡眠，需要解决几个关键问题。这个神经中枢的输入信号和行为输出是什么？神经中枢还与哪些其他神经元群体相连，它使用的是哪种神经传递系统？我们将使用一系列可用于果蝇电路分析的遗传工具来解决这些问题。这项工作将调查一种新的神经回路参与男性特定的睡眠调节，并将产生新的研究途径，了解性别差异的睡眠。此外，这项工作可能为大脑如何平衡竞争需求以决定适当行为的基本问题提供有价值的见解。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep is an essential biological process that is conserved from flies to humans. Studies of sleep regulation have focused on two main mechanisms: the circadian mechanism that controls when to sleep and the homeostatic mechanism that regulates how much to sleep. Nevertheless, other factors, such as gender, also affect sleep, but the mechanism underlying gender-dimorphic sleep regulation is poorly understood. This proposal aims to investigate a novel Drosophila neural circuit involved in male-specific regulation of sleep. We recently identified a small number of neurons in the brain whose activation leads to markedly reduced sleep in male flies, but not in female flies. This is exciting because although several sleep-regulatory neuronal centers have been identified in Drosophila, this is the first example of a gender-dimorphic arousal center. Our preliminary data suggest that the newly identified arousal center promotes wakefulness in the presence of females and makes synaptic contacts with neurons that express the male-specific transcription factor FruitlessM, which is required for male courtship behavior. To understand how this novel arousal center regulates sleep in a gender-dimorphic manner, several key questions need to be addressed. What are the input signals and behavioral outputs of this neural center? What other neuronal populations does the neural center connect to and which neurotransmission system does it employ? We will address these questions using an array of genetic tools that are available for circuit analysis in Drosophila. This work will investigate a novel neural circuit involved in male-specific regulation of sleep and will produce new research avenues for understanding sex differences in sleep. Further, this work may provide valuable insights into the fundamental problem of how the brain balances competing needs to decide on appropriate behaviors.