Abdullah Hasan
Abstract:
A striking one third of the US adult population is reported to sleep for fewer hours than the recommended amount of sleep, namely 7 hours or more. The lack of sleep has been linked with many chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and depression. The Paul lab studies the genetic, molecular and neural underpinnings of sleep in search for effective treatments for associated disorders. The goal of this project is to identify genetic links to phenotypic traits in inbred mice. To find these links, we took a quantitative approach and statistically analyzed electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings using the genome browser, GeneNetwork. We looked at sleep traits in rapid eye movement (REM,) non-rapid eye movement (NREM) in 26 inbred mice strains. Then we ran correlations using the Pearson test between sleep and non sleep phenotypes such as age, bone mineral density, heart rate variability etc., to find the specific genes that regulate sleep disorders. Of the five non-sleep phenotypes, bone mineral density and age in male mice showed significant association. The results showed a positive correlation with bone mineral density and a negative correlation with age. These correlations serve as potential associations for further research. In the future, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping can be utilized to localize the specific genes on the chromosomes related to sleep and its corresponding disorders.