Figure 3. RIS induces sleep through the sleep-inducing FMRFamide-like neuropeptide FLP-11.
(A) Probability distribution of nose speeds during wake and sleep for wild type, flp-11(tm2706), flp-11(tm2706); pflp-11::flp-11 rescue and aptf-1(gk794); paptf-1::flp-11 rescue. Immobility during the time the animal should be sleeping was substantially reduced in flp-11(tm2706). flp-11(tm2706) could be rescued by expression of the wild-type flp-11 gene. Furthermore, expression of flp-11 in aptf-1(gk794) partially rescued sleep behavior. (B) Averaged RIS calcium activity pattern across time in wild type and flp-11(tm2706). RIS was strongly activated at the onset of sleep in flp-11(tm2706) (Student’s t-test). (C) Channelrhodopsin-2 activation of aptf-1-expressing neurons caused immediate immobility in wild type. In contrast, flp-11(tm2706) accelerated upon blue light stimulation showing that RIS-dependent immobility is impaired. Statistical tests used were Wilcoxon Signed Paired Ranks test for comparisons within genotypes and Student’s t-test for comparisons between genotypes. Error bars are SEM. ** denotes statistical significance with p<0.01, *** denotes statistical significance with p<0.001.