A SINGLE gene that could explain why some people can get by on just a few hours’ sleep each night has been discovered.

A small mutation in a gene known as Shaker — also nicknamed the “Thatcher gene” after the former Prime Minister, who famously needed little sleep — allows fruit flies to thrive on a fraction of the sleep that they usually require, according to research in the United States.

Because the Shaker gene controls biological processes that are also involved in human sleep, the findings suggest a genetic mechanism that may underlie the variations in the amount that people need. They may also pave the way for new drugs for treating sleep disorders, either inducing deep sleep in people suffering insomnia or preventing it in those with conditions such as narcolepsy.

Although the gene may allow day-to-day functioning on little sleep, however, it does not appear to be much good for overall health: flies that carry the mutation live less long. While most people sleep for seven to eight hours and find that their mental and physical performance suffer if they are deprived of this, some can manage easily on just three to four hours. Baroness Thatcher rarely slept for more than six hours as Prime Minister, and the trait seems to run in families.

The new study, from the University of WisconsinMadison, found that a particular mutation in the Shaker gene led Drosophila fruit flies to sleep for a third as long as usual, without impairing performance. The Shaker gene controls the flow of potassium into cells, which affects their electrical activity.

Several other studies have shown that a similar process is implicated in human sleep: in mammals, potassium channels in nerve cells are important to the generation of “slow waves” that occur in the brain during deep sleep.

Chiara Cirelli, who led the research, said that although the effect has been seen only in a simple animal model, the work was relevant to people.

“Humans have the same kind of genes and potassium channels,” she said, “and we know that slow waves must be generated by changes in the excitability of neuron cell membranes. Potassium changes may have a huge effect on sleep in humans. This research offers the possibility of developing a new class of compounds that could affect potassium channels in the brain rather than other brain chemical systems targeted currently.”

In the study, published today in the journal Nature, Dr Cirelli’s team screened 9,000 mutated fruit flies for altered sleep patterns. They found that one line of flies slept for a third of the usual amount. Those flies did not perform any worse than normal on tests measuring their mental alertness, although they did have shorter than normal life-spans. All carried a mutation in just one amino acid on the Shaker gene.

RECHARGING THE BATTERIES

• An average of eight hours of sleep per night is recommended, but “short sleepers” can get by on as few as five hours a night, while “long sleepers” need up to ten hours
  
• Sound sleep has been linked to a longer life expectancy, but some studies suggest that people who sleep excessively have a higher death rate
  
• Sleep, in particular the rapid eye movement phase in which dreaming takes place, is also thought to consolidate memories and impressions picked up during the day

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