PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Inka Busack AU - Henrik Bringmann TI - Overactivation of a sleep-active neuron decouples survival from the need to sleep AID - 10.1101/2022.04.03.486914 DP - 2022 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2022.04.03.486914 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/05/2022.04.03.486914.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/04/05/2022.04.03.486914.full AB - Sleep is a state of behavioral quiescence that is closely associated with survival. Sleep-active neurons promote sleep and survival. It is not known, however, whether sleep-active neurons need to cause sleep to promote survival. Here, we tested how depolarization of the sleep-active RIS neuron in Caenorhabditis elegans controls sleep and survival during larval starvation. Survival always increased with raised RIS depolarization. RIS depolarization promoted sleep over a long range. Unexpectedly, however, high levels of RIS depolarization caused a nearly complete loss of sleep. Similarly, overexpression of sleep-inducing FLP-11 neuropeptides in RIS inhibited sleep, indicating that overactive transmission from RIS inhibits sleep. Despite the loss of sleep, survival was normal following FLP-11 overexpression. Thus, RIS overactivation abolishes sleep yet supports survival. These results indicate that regulation of sleep and survival are separable functions of a sleep-active neuron that are normally coupled but can be uncoupled by sleep-neuron over activation.Author Summary Sleep behavior and survival benefits are independently regulated functions of the sleep neuron RIS in Caenorhabditis elegans.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.