Topic: alternative oxidase

Sleep is vital, but its benefits are unknown. One hypothesis posits that sleep is an antioxidant defence mechanism. Indeed, reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been shown to accumulate during prolonged waking, and experimentally increasing the ROS load of the brain induces sleep. In Drosophila melanogaster, a crucial ROS sensor in sleep-promoting dorsal fan-shaped body neurons (dFBNs) is the β-subunit, termed Hyperkinetic (Hk), of the voltage-gated potassium channel Shaker. Oxidation of a stably bound NADPH cofactor causes conformational changes in the channel, which increase dFBN activity. dFB