Mammalian sleep genetics.

Mammalian sleep is a complex phenomenon governed by the interplay of neural circuits and signaling systems. The impact of genetic manipulations on sleep-wake dynamics provides important insights into this complex behavior. Here we review the sleep-related phenotypes of over 50 transgenic animal models spanning a variety of signaling systems. This heterogeneous literature includes outcomes spanning motor activity patterns, sleep-wake stage architecture, responses to sleep deprivation, circadian rhythmicity, and other perturbations such as food restriction, temperature challenge, and infection exposure. Insights from these animal experiments hold potential to converge with the well-known sleep-wake neurocircuitry as well as the increasingly available human genetic information, especially in patient populations exhibiting sleep-wake pathology.