Researchers Discover Gene That Could Hold Key to Good Night's Sleep

The difference in how much sleep individuals need is largely due to genetic variability, says a new research.

The researchers report that two genes are required for normal slumber in fly models of sleep: taranis and Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1).

Poor Sleep may Double Heart Attack Risk in Men: World Health Organization
Sleeping disorder or poor sleep in men is associated with double the risk of a heart attack and up to four times the risk of stroke.

"Our research elucidates a new molecular pathway and a novel brain area that plays a role in controlling how long we sleep," said senior study author Kyunghee Koh, assistant professor of Neuroscience at the US's Thomas Jefferson University.

"There is a lot we do not understand about sleep, especially when it comes to the protein machinery that initiates the process on the cellular level."

The researchers examined thousands of mutant fly lines and found a mutant, called Taranis, which slept a lot less than normal flies.

Common Sleep Medications Treble the Risk of Developing Lung Cancer
People taking sleeping pills twice a week have two and a half times increased risk of lung cancer. Those using the drugs for 3 or more years trebled their risk of cancer.

The researchers tracked how taranis interacted with other proteins and saw that taranis bound to a known sleep regulator protein called Cyclin A.

Their data suggests that Taranis and Cyclin A create a molecular machine that inactivates Cdk1, whose normal function is to suppress sleep and promote wakefulness.

Dangerous Sleepy Driving an Offshoot Of Night Shifts
People involved in odd shifts or night shifts are likely to be at high risk of sleepy driving, Australian researchers have found.

Previous research has shown that Cyclin A is expressed in a small number of neurons including a cluster of seven neurons on each side of the brain.

Koh and colleagues showed that these neurons are located in an area of the fly brain that corresponds with the human hypothalamus - one of the sleep centers of the human brain.

Sleep Should be Actively Considered in Efforts to Modify Dietary Behavior
Bad night's sleep or disruptive sleep can affect eating habits and behaviors, causing long term chronic health damage in both adults and children.

They saw a reduction of overall sleep when Taranis was knocked down only in these 14 neurons and when these same neurons are activated.

"We think this may be an arousal center in the fly brain that Taranis helps inhibit during sleep."

Although the taranis protein has a human cousin, called the Trip-Br family of transcriptional regulators, it is yet unclear whether a similar system is at play in humans.

The study was published online in the journal Current Biology.

Source-IANS