Topic: Drosophila sleep regulation

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels couple with cytoplasmic ß-subunits (Kvß) that exhibit aldo-keto reductase (AKR) activity. Kvß subunits typically have exceptionally low catalytic turnover making them slow substrate converters. This poses a conundrum: why would an ion channel be shackled with a subpar enzyme? The AKR activity is crucial in Drosophila sleep regulation in dorsal fan-shaped body neurons (dFBN) where the Kv1 family member, Shaker, is paired with the ß-subunit Hyperkinetic. We show that its low catalytic turnover permits Hyperkinetic to monitor and integrate cumulative oxidativ