Sleep's ultimate meaning is repairing neuronal DNA damage

Why do animals sleep? Why do humans waste 1/3 of their time sleeping? All animals with nervous systems need sleep

Still, scientists do not yet understand the core cellular functions and biological mechanisms underlying sleep, nor the conserved molecular markers that define sleep cells during phylogeny

Scientists at Israel's Bar-Ilan University have uncovered the secrets behind sleep

The related findings were published in the journal Nature Communications, entitled "Sleep increases chromosome dynamics to enable reduction of accumulating DNA damage in single neurons.

The researchers performed live imaging of chromosomal markers in single cells of live zebrafish and found that sleep increased the chromosomal dynamics of individual neurons but had no effect on the other two types of cells

By controlling sleep, chromosome dynamics, neuronal activity and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), the researchers found that chromosome dynamics are low, while the number of DSBs increases during sleep deprivation

These findings suggest that chromosome dynamics are a potential marker to identify the function of individual sleeper cells to maintain chromosome stability in the nucleus

"We have now discovered a causal relationship between sleep, chromosome dynamics, neuronal activity and DNA damage and repair, which is relevant to all living things," said Professor Lior appelbaum, corresponding author of the study.

Original title:

Sleep increases chromosome dynamics to enable reduction of accumulating DNA damage in single neurons.