Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Laser Microirradiation to Study In Vivo Cellular Responses to Simple and Complex DNA Damage
Published on: January 31, 2018
Parp1 promotes sleep, which enhances DNA repair in neurons
David Zada1, Yaniv Sela2, Noa Matosevich2
1The Faculty of Life Sciences and the Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel.
Abstract:
The characteristics of the sleep drivers and the mechanisms through which sleep relieves the cellular homeostatic pressure are unclear. In flies, zebrafish, mice, and humans, DNA damage levels increase during wakefulness and decrease during sleep. Here, we show that 6 h of consolidated sleep is sufficient to reduce DNA damage in the zebrafish dorsal pallium. Induction of DNA damage by neuronal activity and mutagens triggered sleep and DNA repair. The activity of the DNA damage response (DDR) proteins Rad52 and Ku80 increased during sleep, and chromosome dynamics enhanced Rad52 activity. The activity of the DDR initiator poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (Parp1) increased following sleep deprivation. In both larva zebrafish and adult mice, Parp1 promoted sleep. Inhibition of Parp1 activity reduced sleep-dependent chromosome dynamics and repair. These results demonstrate that DNA damage is a homeostatic driver for sleep, and Parp1 pathways can sense this cellular pressure and facilitate sleep and repair activity.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
DNA Damage can Stall the Cell Cycle
Long-patch Base Excision Repair
Nucleotide Excision Repair
Cells are regularly exposed to mutagens—factors in the environment that can damage DNA and generate mutations. UV radiation is one of the most common mutagens and is estimated to introduce a significant number of changes in DNA. These include bends or kinks in the structure, which can block DNA replication or transcription. If these errors are not fixed, the damage can cause mutations, which in turn can result in cancer or disease depending on which sequences are...
Restarting Stalled Replication Forks
Overview of DNA Repair
Chemically...
Negative Regulator Molecules

