| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,940,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,140,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
|
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
We found pan-neuronal knockdown of one of putative transporter family genes in Drosophila, whose mammalian homolog is a transporter for neutral amino acids such as proline and leucine, significantly decreased sleep. Interestingly, mutant flies with elevated levels of free proline in neurons significantly increased sleep. Our present working hypothesis is that proline activates NMDA receptor signaling and promotes sleep.
In order to identify a novel neural circuit that control Drosophila sleep, we focused on central complex neurons. We found that activation of neurons labeled by a Gal4 driver that expresses in the protocerebral bridge (PB) neurons, significantly decreased sleep. Using mosaic analysis with a repressible cell marker (MARCM), we found that activation of neurons projecting from the PB to the fan-shaped body (FB) and the noduli (NO) in the driver reduced sleep. These results suggest that specific small group of PB neurons are implicated in sleep regulation.
|
