Have you ever wondered why every creature from the smallest insect to the grandest whale succumb to a fragile sleep state? Although the obvious danger and evolutionary disadvantage is the temporary ignorance of the world, sleep is a common phenomenon in animals. This begs the question: Why does this seemingly risky behavior persist throughout the entire evolution? A new theory of unity provides a surprising explanation, proposing that sleep is essentially derived from ancient symbiotic relations. It can be traced back to the earliest animals and microbial partnerships, leading to the development of mitochondria, the power of our cells. This theory not only reveals the nature of sleep, but also sheds light on the role of quiet (NREM) and active (REM) sleep, thereby promoting the boundaries of our understanding of the ubiquitous life in life.
A groundbreaking study, Dr. Graham Adams, a scientist in Perth, Australia, and Dr. Philip O’Brien of Murdoch University, unveiled a unified sleep theory, illuminating this The origin of an important biological process. Their study, published in the neurobiology of sleep and circadian rhythms, shows that the birth of sleep is intertwined with evolutionary events that lead to mitochondrial development, provides profound insights into how these cells’ powerful dynamic chambers affect sleep patterns .
Dr. Adams elucidates the basis of their research: “The origin of sleep is believed to be closely related to the endosymbiotic events that lead to mitochondria formation.” This view suggests that sleep is a complex result of the ancient relationship between our cells.
Further exploring host-parasitic interactions, Dr. Adams proposed the similarities and noted: “These parasitic interactions provide a model for understanding how mitochondria affects the host’s sleep behavior.” This comparison helps illustrate the regulation of sleep by microscopic organisms The significant impact.
Dr. Adams emphasizes the biochemical effects of mitochondria, “Mitrochondria are not only crucial for aerobic respiration, but also for the production of Gaba and Dopa (such as GABA and DOPA), which is indispensable for our sleep/wake cycles.” This emphasizes The dual function of mitochondria in energy production and sleep regulation.
The importance of this study goes far beyond academic curiosity, delving into the complexity of the evolutionary journey of sleep, highlighting the indelible marks our honeycomb ancestors left on our daily lives. By understanding the mitochondrial commands of sleep, Dr. Adams and Dr. O’Brien pave the way for novel sleep disorders approaches that have the potential to change treatments and improve quality of life. This unified theory not only backgrounds sleep in the vast life hooks on Earth, but also invites us to reconsider our relationship with our inner microscopic world. By bridging the gaps between disciplines, the works of Dr. Adams and Dr. O’Brien emphasize the profound interconnectedness of life from cells to brain. Their insight into the endosymbiotic origins of sleep emphasizes the complex interactions between biology, environment and evolution, providing a fascinating narrative that reshapes our understanding of one of the fundamental processes in life.
Journal Reference
Dr. Graham Adams and Dr. Philip O’Brien, “Uniform Sleep Theory: Endosymbiotic relationships of eukaryotes and awakening responses to mitochondria and Rem (REM), “Neurobiology of Sleep and Circadian Rhythm, 2023.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbscr.2023.100100
About the Author
Dr. Graham Adams
For decades, I have been fascinated by the strange behavior of sleep. It starts with me looking at my Rottweiler Claudia, sleeping and waking up, and then sleeping, about every 9 minutes. I was interested and photographed other dogs in their natural habitat and was surprised to find that they woke up about 20 times a night. Plus, when they sleep with other dogs, they wake up at different times.
Over the past few decades, I have studied more about sleep in dogs, humans and other animals. I was fascinated when a piece of paper came out and said it was like a human, and a dog needed to sleep to remember it. However, as a behavior expert for dogs and cats, I think dogs are wrongly trained and the results may be wrong. So I conducted my own experiment using the dog’s sense of smell rather than sight. Dogs can remember without sleeping. This led me to do other studies in which animals do not need to sleep to consolidate memory, such as newborn whales that did not sleep for the first month.
I want to know if sleep doesn’t have a function. Maybe it’s just an event. But I realized that there must be a very powerful driving it to choose it. Therefore, it is necessary to browse 14 different biology disciplines to find the “unified sleep theory: the relationship between the relationship between the endosymbiotic eukaryotic and mitochondria, and the REM push-pull response to awaken awakening”.
I was an honorary researcher at the School of Veterinary Research, Murdoch University, Western Australia. I continue to be passionate about how animals see their world and their minds. I appear frequently on Australian National Television and radio, and I am the author of numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications in international journals. orcid.org/0000-0002-8443-6092
Dr. Philip O’Brien
Sleep research doesn’t excite me as a young researcher. I’m more interested in molecular biology, and it’s an exciting moment for molecular biologists. The technology for cloning and sequencing DNA is rapidly improving, and we are in the holy grail to achieve higher eukaryotic animal and plant genomes and animal genomes. My research area is plant diseases, especially fungal diseases of grains, and oval diseases of trees and shrubs. We can use techniques from molecular biology to elucidate the mechanisms of diseases, and then the gene factories are resistant to these diseases. I’ve known G ADAMS for many years, but given the very different fields of our research, we have never established research collaborations. It didn’t happen until we both retired, and we had to abandon the idea of sleep, but come from different perspectives. It turned out to be a fun, enjoyable and fruitful collaboration.
