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A third-year WSU associate research professor may have discovered the gene responsible for the animal world’s sleep-wake cycle.

Jason Gerstner’s current research is a culmination of advances he has made since his time investigating gene expression during graduate school in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s neuroscience training program.

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“We were hunting for genes that changed their expression pattern over the course of the [24-hour period],” Gerstner said.

But, Gerstner found something he did not expect, as he identified gene expression to cycle throughout the brain in astrocyte cells, which are star-shaped cells in the brain closely associated with neuronal synapses. Specifically, Gerstner found the gene Fabp7, a gene which functions within a brain-centralized astrocyte cell. This gene expressed the exact same pattern over the course of the day that Gerstner was looking for.

“What made that [finding] unique is that prior to that time, people didn’t know genes could change their expression pattern in phases throughout the brain,” Gerstner said. “Traditionally as neuroscientists, [astrocyte] cells were often times overlooked because they were never considered principal players like neurons are.”

Gerstner decided this development was enough for further investigation.

“We know neurons connect at synapses, but what we know less about is the way in which these glial [astrocyte] synapses influence behavior,” Gerstner said.

Gerstner continued this work through his post-doctorate fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and became a WSU associate research professor in the summer of 2014. Gerstner’s most recent study on the topic was published on April 5 in the neuroscience “Science Advances” Journal where he was credited as the lead researcher.

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The major focus of the study was whether gene Fabp7 is needed for a normal sleep cycle. According to the journal article abstract, the researchers did find a correlation between the missense mutation of the Fabp7 gene and a more fragmented sleep in humans.

The study included an experiment in which the Fabp7 gene was disabled within an experimental group of mice. Through the experiment, Gerstner and his team determined that the mice with the Fabp7 gene disabled slept more fitfully or had more rapid eye movement than the mice who had their Fabp7 gene intact, according to the Guardian. These results led to Gerstner and his team to test what effect the ineffective gene may have in humans, according to the Guardian.

For the second experiment, a sleep study was conducted on 300 humans of Japanese nationality, including analysis of each one’s DNA. The research term discovered that 29 out of the 300 who participated in the study were found through DNA analysis to have a naturally-occurring mutation of gene Fabp7 which rendered the protein inactive, according to the Guardian.

The results of the study showed that the 29 people studied who had the naturally-occurring mutation experienced more fragmented sleep than those without the mutation, Gerstner said. A third study by Gerstner and his team on fruit flies confirmed the results of the other two experiments, according to the study’s abstract.

For Gerstner, his research into the subject continues.

“Right now, the thing we are doing next is to try and dig even deeper to characterize what the precise function of the Fabp7 is in astrocytes to contribute to differences in the behavioral state,” Gerstner said. “The experiment is ongoing.”

For more on the journal article see: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/4/e1602663