Loading…
Availability of food determines the need for sleep in memory consolidation
Sleep remains a major mystery of biology, with little understood about its basic function. One of the most commonly proposed functions of sleep is the consolidation of memory 1 – 3 . However, as conditions such as starvation require the organism to be awake and active 4 , the ability to switch to a...
Saved in:
Published in: | Nature (London) 2021-01, Vol.589 (7843), p.582-585 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Summary: | Sleep remains a major mystery of biology, with little understood about its basic function. One of the most commonly proposed functions of sleep is the consolidation of memory
1
–
3
. However, as conditions such as starvation require the organism to be awake and active
4
, the ability to switch to a memory consolidation mechanism that is not contingent on sleep may confer an evolutionary advantage. Here we identify an adaptive circuit-based mechanism that enables
Drosophila
to form sleep-dependent and sleep-independent memory. Flies fed after appetitive conditioning needed increased sleep for memory consolidation, but flies starved after training did not require sleep to form memories. Memory in fed flies is mediated by the anterior–posterior α′/β′ neurons of the mushroom body, while memory under starvation is mediated by medial α′/β′ neurons. Sleep-dependent and sleep-independent memory rely on distinct dopaminergic neurons and corresponding mushroom body output neurons. However, sleep and memory are coupled such that mushroom body neurons required for sleep-dependent memory also promote sleep. Flies lacking Neuropeptide F display sleep-dependent memory even when starved, suggesting that circuit selection is determined by hunger. This plasticity in memory circuits enables flies to retain essential information in changing environments.
Hunger status in a fly is shown to drive either sleep-dependent or sleep-independent memory formation through different mushroom body circuits. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 0028-0836 1476-4687 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-020-2997-y |