PUBLICATION
A vertebrate family without a functional Hypocretin/Orexin arousal system
- Authors
- Bitsikas, V., Cubizolles, F., Schier, A.F.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-240316-3
- Date
- 2024
- Source
- Current biology : CB 34(7): 1532-1540.e4 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Schier, Alexander
- Keywords
- Botiidae, Chromobotia, arousal, cataplexy, evolution, hypocretin, orexin, sleep, zebrafish
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Arousal/physiology
- Cataplexy*
- Fishes*
- Mammals
- Narcolepsy*
- Neuropeptides*/genetics
- Neuropeptides*/metabolism
- Orexins/genetics
- Zebrafish/genetics
- Zebrafish/metabolism
- PubMed
- 38490200 Full text @ Curr. Biol.
Citation
Bitsikas, V., Cubizolles, F., Schier, A.F. (2024) A vertebrate family without a functional Hypocretin/Orexin arousal system. Current biology : CB. 34(7):1532-1540.e4.
Abstract
The Hypocretin/Orexin signaling pathway suppresses sleep and promotes arousal, whereas the loss of Hypocretin/Orexin results in narcolepsy, including the involuntary loss of muscle tone (cataplexy).1 Here, we show that the South Asian fish species Chromobotia macracanthus exhibits a sleep-like state during which individuals stop swimming and rest on their side. Strikingly, we discovered that the Hypocretin/Orexin system is pseudogenized in C. macracanthus, but in contrast to Hypocretin-deficient mammals, C. macracanthus does not suffer from sudden behavioral arrests. Similarly, zebrafish mutations in hypocretin/orexin show no evident signs of cataplectic-like episodes. Notably, four additional species in the Botiidae family also lack a functional Hypocretin/Orexin system. These findings identify the first vertebrate family that does not rely on a functional Hypocretin/Orexin system for the regulation of sleep and arousal.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping