An AP2 transcription factor is required for a sleep-active neuron to induce sleep-like quiescence in C. elegans
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Sleep is an essential behavior that is found in all animals that have a nervous system. Neural activity is thought to control sleep, but little is known about the identity and the function of neural circuits underlying sleep. Lethargus is a developmentally regulated period of behavioral quiescence in C. elegans larvae that has sleep-like properties.
RESULTS: We studied sleep-like behavior in C. elegans larvae and found that it requires a highly conserved AP2 transcription factor, aptf-1, which was expressed strongly in only five interneurons in the head. Expression of aptf-1 in one of these neurons, the GABAergic neuron RIS, was required for quiescence. RIS was strongly and acutely activated at the transition from wake-like to sleep-like behavior. Optogenetic activation of aptf-1-expressing neurons ectopically induced acute behavioral quiescence in an aptf-1-dependent manner. RIS ablation caused a dramatic reduction of quiescence. RIS-dependent quiescence, however, does not require GABA but requires neuropeptide signaling.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that RIS acts as a sleep-active, sleep-promoting neuron that requires aptf-1 to induce sleep-like behavior through neuropeptide signaling. Sleep-promoting GABAergic-peptidergic neurons have also been identified in vertebrate brains, suggesting that common circuit principles exist between sleep in vertebrates and sleep-like behavior in invertebrates.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2215-2223 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Current biology : CB |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 22 |
Publication status | Published - 18 Nov 2013 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
Scopus | 84889099530 |
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ORCID | /0000-0002-7689-8617/work/142236993 |
Keywords
Keywords
- Animals, Behavior, Animal/physiology, Caenorhabditis elegans/physiology, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/physiology, Gene Expression Regulation, Interneurons/metabolism, Larva, Locomotion, Mutation, Neurons/physiology, Neuropeptides/metabolism, Signal Transduction, Sleep/physiology, Transcription Factor AP-2/metabolism, gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/metabolism