CBS Seminar: Alex Keene (Texas A&M)

Northwest Labs B103 and Zoom

Genetic and Evolutionary Dissection of Sleep-Feeding Interactions

Abstract

Sleep is nearly ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, yet its duration and timing vary dramatically between species. We use the fruit flyand multiple species of fish as models to identify genes and neural mechanisms underlying the integration of sleep and metabolic state. We have performed a number of large-scale genetic screens in Drosophila that have identified genes and neurons that regulate sleep. These efforts include the identification of a single pair of peptidergic neurons suppress sleep during periods of food deprivation by modulating insulin signaling.  We also have developed the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus as a model to study evolved changes in sleep, and how naturally occurring genetic variation encodes for sleep differences between individuals. These fish exist as eyed-surface populations that inhabit the rivers of northeast Mexico and multiple blind cave populations that have converged on sleep loss. We have identified neuromodulators that contribute to the evolution of sleep loss in cavefish populations including upregulation of the wake-promoting neuropeptide Hypocretin/Orexin. In addition, we have implement transgenesis, gene-editing, and whole-brain imaging approaches in this emergent model system, allowing for systematic investigation of sleep regulation.