A vertebrate family without a functional Hypocretin/Orexin arousal system

Summary

The Hypocretin/Orexin signaling pathway suppresses sleep and promotes arousal, whereas the loss of Hypocretin/Orexin results in narcolepsy, including the involuntary loss of muscle tone (cataplexy).¹ Here, we show that the South Asian fish species Chromobotia macracanthus exhibits a sleep-like state during which individuals stop swimming and rest on their side. Strikingly, we discovered that the Hypocretin/Orexin system is pseudogenized in C. macracanthus, but in contrast to Hypocretin-deficient mammals, C. macracanthus does not suffer from sudden behavioral arrests. Similarly, zebrafish mutations in hypocretin/orexin show no evident signs of cataplectic-like episodes. Notably, four additional species in the Botiidae family also lack a functional Hypocretin/Orexin system. These findings identify the first vertebrate family that does not rely on a functional Hypocretin/Orexin system for the regulation of sleep and arousal.