Biology subjects

Donohue, K. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Donohue, K. D..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Unbiased genetics identifies a glutamatergic signaling network as a mediator of daily sleep patterns.

Sleep is a fundamental, conserved behavior important for survival. In many species, sleep behavior is controlled by poorly understood interactions between a system of circadian rhythms (CR), which promote sleep at ecologically appropriate times, and a homeostatic sleep drive that accumulates with time awake. The CR is a cellular phenomenon, driven by molecular oscillations of "clock genes" in nearly all cells. Emerging evidence indicates neuronal synapses are a key locus for the accumulation and resolution of sleep need, supporting a cellular basis of sleep need. Indeed, efforts to understand the genetic basis of sleep need identified Homer1a, a regulator of synapse homeostasis. To develop further insight into the genetic basis of sleep regulation, we measured daily sleep patterns in genetically diverse strains of mice from the Collaborative Cross. Strains with 1) highly consolidated light-phase sleep, or 2) fragmented, arrhythmic sleep, were identified for genetic analysis using quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. Excitingly, in F2 hybrids, 19 of 32 metrics of sleep and circadian behavior mapped to a narrow QTL containing GRM5, a postsynaptic glutamate receptor and binding partner of Homer1a, and GCPII, an astrocytic enzyme that regulates NAAG, a peptide agonist for the presynaptic/astrocytic glutamate receptor GRM3. Collectively, these genes form a coordinated glutamatergic signaling network across the tri-partite synapse. Pharmacology targeting GRM5, GCPII, and GRM3 strongly modulated sleep, functionally validating them as sleep-regulating genes. Our findings support a model in which synapses act as a cellular site for integration of circadian and sleep-need signals to regulate daily sleep patterns. Significance StatementSleep is a fundamental pillar of human health. Restorative sleep is supported by circadian rhythms (CR). Sleep and CR disruptions are prevalent in neuropsychiatric conditions and are increasingly understood as causal drivers of altered brain function and behavior. Therefore, sleep and CR are attractive therapeutic targets to improve health. However, the basic biological mechanisms that couple our need to sleep with the CR are not understood. Genetic discovery using diverse strains of mice identifies a glutamatergic signaling network coordinated across the synapse as an underlying genetic basis for daily sleep patterns. This work builds upon a growing body showing that excitatory synapses are a cellular site for the resolution of sleep need and interaction with the CR.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Genetic Variation Regulates Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression in Mice

In the U.S., opioid prescription for treatment of pain nearly quadrupled from 1999 to 2014, leading to an epidemic in addiction and overdose deaths. The most common cause of opioid overdose and death is opioid-induced respiratory depression (OIRD), a life-threatening depression in respiratory rate thought to be caused by stimulation of opioid receptors in the inspiratory-generating regions of the brain. Studies in mice have revealed that variation in opiate lethality is associated with strain differences, suggesting that sensitivity to OIRD is genetically determined. We first tested the hypothesis that genetic variation in inbred strains of mice influences the innate variability in opioid-induced responses in respiratory depression, recovery time and survival time. Using the founders of the advanced, high-diversity mouse populations, the Collaborative Cross (CC) and Diversity Outbred (DO), we found substantial sex and genetic effects on respiratory sensitivity and opiate lethality. To define genetic modifiers of OIRD, we then used the high precision DO population treated with morphine to map and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for respiratory depression, recovery time and survival time. Trait mapping and integrative functional genomic analysis in GeneWeaver has allowed us to implicate Galnt11, an N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase, as a candidate gene that regulates OIRD.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2019

Effects of acute lying and sleep deprivation on the behavior of lactating dairy cows

The objective was to determine the effects of sleep or lying deprivation on the behavior of dairy cows. Data were collected from 8 multi- and 4 primiparous cows (DIM = 199 {+/-} 44 (mean {+/-} SD); days pregnant = 77 {+/-} 30). Using a crossover design, each cow experienced: 1) sleep deprivation implemented by noise or physical contact when their posture suggested sleep, and 2) lying deprivation imposed by a grid placed on the pen floor. One day before treatment (baseline), and treatment day (treatment) were followed by a 12-d washout period. Study days were organized from 2100 to 2059. During habituation (d -3 and -2 before treatment), baseline (d -1), and trt (d 0), housing was individual boxstalls (mattress with no bedding). After treatment, cows returned to sand-bedded freestalls for a 7-d recovery period (d 1 to 7) where data on lying behaviors were collected. Daily lying time, number lying bouts, bout duration, and number of steps were recorded by dataloggers attached to the hind leg of cows throughout the study period. Data were analyzed using a mixed model in SAS including fixed effects of treatment (sleep deprivation vs. sleep and lying deprivation), day, and their interaction with significant main effects separated using a PDIFF statement (P [≤] 0.05). Interactions between treatment and day were detected for daily lying time and the number of bouts. Lying time was lower for both treatments during the treatment period compared to baseline. Lying time increased during the recovery period for both lying and sleep deprived cows. However, it took 4 d for the lying deprived cows to fully recover their lying time after treatment, whereas it took the sleep deprived cows 2 d for their lying time to return to baseline levels. Results suggest that both sleep and lying deprivation can have impact cow behavior. Management factors that limit freestall access likely reduce lying time and sleep, causing negative welfare implications for dairy cows.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

Noninvasive sleep monitoring in large-scale screening of knock-out mice reveals novel sleep-related genes

Sleep is a critical process that is well-conserved across mammalian species, and perhaps most animals, yet its functions and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Identification of genes and pathways that can influence sleep may shed new light on these functions. Genomic screens enable the detection of previously unsuspected molecular processes that influence sleep. In this study, we report results from a large-scale phenotyping study of sleep-wake parameters for a population of single-gene knockout mice. Sleep-wake parameters were measured using a high throughput, non-invasive piezoelectric system called PiezoSleep. Knockout mice generated on a C57BL6/N (B6N) background were monitored for sleep and wake parameters for five days. By analyzing data from over 6000 mice representing 343 single gene knockout lines, we identified 122 genes influencing traits like sleep duration and bout length that have not been previously implicated in sleep, including those that affect sleep only during a specific circadian phase. PiezoSleep also allows assessment of breath rates during sleep and this was integrated as a supplemental tool in identifying aberrant physiology in these knockout lines. Sex differences were evident in both normal and altered sleep behavior. Through a combination of genetic and phenotypic associations, and known QTLs for sleep, we propose a set of candidate genes playing specific roles in sleep. The high \"hit rate\" demonstrates that many genes can alter normal sleep behaviors through a variety of mechanisms. Further investigation of these genes may provide insight into the pathways regulating sleep, functional aspects of sleep, or indirect potentially pathological processes that alter normal sleep.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Systems genetic discovery of host-microbiome interactions reveals mechanisms of microbial involvement in disease

The role of the microbiome in health and disease involves complex networks of host genetics, genomics, microbes and environment. Identifying the mechanisms of these interactions has remained challenging. Systems genetics in the laboratory mouse enables data-driven discovery of network components and mechanisms of host-microbial interactions underlying multiple disease phenotypes. To examine the interplay among the whole host genome, transcriptome and microbiome, we mapped quantitative trait loci and correlated the abundance of cecal mRNA, luminal microflora, physiology and behavior in incipient strains of the highly diverse Collaborative Cross mouse population. The relationships that are extracted can be tested experimentally to ascribe causality among host and microbe in behavior and physiology, providing insight into disease. Application of this strategy in the Collaborative Cross population revealed experimentally validated mechanisms of microbial involvement in models of autism, inflammatory bowel disease and sleep disorder.\n\neTOC BlurbHost genetic diversity provides a variable selection environment and physiological context for microbiota and their interaction with host physiology. Using a highly diverse mouse population Bubier et al. identified a variety of host, microbe and potentially disease interactions.\n\nHighlights* 18 significant species-specific QTL regulating microbial abundance were identified\n* Cis and trans eQTL for 1,600 cecal transcripts were mapped in the Collaborative Cross\n* Sleep phenotypes were highly correlated with the abundance of B.P. Odoribacter\n* Elimination of sleep-associated microbes restored normal sleep patterns in mice.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2017

Rapid, noninvasive, and unsupervised detection of sleep/wake using piezoelectric monitoring for pharmacological studies in narcoleptic mice

BackgroundAssessment of sleep/wake by electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) is invasive, resource intensive, and not amenable to rapid screening at scale for drug discovery. In the preclinical development of therapeutics for narcolepsy, efficacy tests are hindered by the lack of a non-EEG/EMG based translational test of symptom severity. The current methods study offers proof-of-principle that PiezoSleep (noninvasive, unsupervised piezoelectric monitoring of gross body movement, together with respiration patterns during behavioral quiescence), can be used to determine sleep/wake as applicable to the development of wake-promoting therapeutics. First, the translational wake-maintenance score (WMS, the ratio of time during the first half of the dark period spent in long wake bouts to short sleep bouts) of the PiezoSleep narcolepsy screen was introduced as a means by which to rank narcoleptic orexin/ataxin-3 mice and wild type mice by sleep/wake fragmentation severity. Accuracy of the WMS to detect narcoleptic phenotypes were determined in genotype-confirmed orexin/ataxin-3 mice and wild type colony mates. The WMS was used to identify the most highly symptomatic mice for resource-intensive EEG/EMG studies for further analysis of specific arousal states. Second, PiezoSleep was demonstrated for use in high-throughput screening of wake-promoting compounds using modafinil in orexin/ataxin-3 and wild type mice.\n\nResultsThe WMS detected a narcoleptic phenotype with 89% sensitivity, 92% specificity and 98% positive predictive value. A 15-fold difference in WMS differentiated wild type littermates from the most severely affected orexin/ataxin-3 mice. Follow-up EEG/EMG study indicated 82% of the orexin/ataxin-3 mice with the lowest wake-maintenance scores met or exceeded the cataplexy-occurrence threshold ([≥] 3 bouts) for inclusion in therapeutic efficacy studies. In the PiezoSleep dose-response study, the ED50 for wake-promotion by modafinil was approximately 50 mg/kg in both genotypes. Using unsupervised piezoelectric monitoring, the efficacy of wake-promoting compounds can be determined in a 5-arm study with 60 mice in less than one week--a fraction of the time compared to EEG/EMG studies.\n\nConclusionsThe WMS on the PiezoSleep narcolepsy screen quantifies the inability to sustain wakefulness and provides an accurate measure of the narcoleptic phenotype in mice. PiezoSleep offers rapid, scalable assessment of sleep/wake for high-throughput screening in drug discovery.

neuroscience↗