The dynamic gene regulatory landscape of the mouse brain in response to sleep deprivation

Abstract

Sleep deprivation (SD) negatively impacts nearly all brain functions including cognition, memory consolidation and metabolism. However, the gene regulatory networks that underlie these biological effects are not well understood. In order to identify these networks, we conducted a multiomic analysis to analyse how gene expression, chromatin accessibility, enhancer activity and DNA methylation change with acute SD in mice. By studying three brain regions involved in different aspects of sleep - the cortex (CTX), dentate gyrus (DG), and suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) - we found that the effects of SD on the multiome varied widely, impacting physiological processes specific to each area, from spine formation in the dentate gyrus to neuropeptide release in the SCN. Our integrated analysis showed that distinct brain region-specific networks of regulatory factors dynamically alter the epigenomic landscape in response to SD to orchestrate transcriptional responses. These findings provide new understanding of the regulatory grammar encoded within the genome, which enables a general physiological signal like SD to produce unique effects in a tissue-specific context.