Automated genetic screen in C. elegans maps modulators of stress-induced sleep

Researchers have posted a preprint to bioRxiv describing a large-scale genetic screen in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans aimed at identifying genes that regulate stress-induced sleep (SIS) — the well-documented tendency of animals to sleep more following cellular injury or illness.

The team used a worm-picking robot and multi-well WorMotel imaging to measure behavioural activity and quiescence in 941 whole-genome-sequenced strains from the Million Mutation Project before and after ultraviolet radiation exposure. Applying the Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT) to the resulting behavioural data, the authors prioritised 6,663 candidate genes as potential modulators of SIS.

The C. elegans system is a well-established model for dissecting the genetics of sleep and neuronal function, and the scale of this screen — enabled by automation and existing genome-sequenced strain libraries — represents a methodological advance for the field. The findings are preliminary and have not been peer-reviewed. Researchers in sleep genetics, neuroscience, and model-organism biology, as well as students studying functional genomic screening approaches, will find the preprint relevant. The work is distinct from genetics of human sleep disorders but contributes to the fundamental biology underlying conserved sleep-regulatory pathways.