Sleep is critical for diverse aspects of brain function in animals ranging from invertebrates to humans. Powerful genetic tools in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster have identified — at an unprecedented level of detail — genes and neural circuits that regulate sleep. This research has revealed that the functions and neural principles of sleep regulation are largely conserved from flies to mammals. Further, genetic approaches to studying sleep have uncovered mechanisms underlying the integration of sleep and many different biological processes, including circadian timekeeping, metabolism, social interactions, and aging. These findings show that in flies, as in mammals, sleep is not a single state, but instead consists of multiple physiological and behavioral states that change in response to the environment, and is shaped by life history. Here, we review advances in the study of sleep in Drosophila, discuss their implications for understanding the fundamental functions of sleep that are likely to be conserved among animal species, and identify important unanswered questions in the field.

睡眠对于从无脊椎动物到人类的动物大脑功能的各个方面都至关重要。果蝇果蝇中强大的遗传工具已经以前所未有的详细程度确定了调节睡眠的基因和神经回路。这项研究表明，从苍蝇到哺乳动物，睡眠调节的功能和神经原理在很大程度上是保守的。此外，研究睡眠的遗传方法已经揭示了睡眠与许多不同生物过程（包括昼夜节律计时、新陈代谢、社会互动和衰老）整合的潜在机制。这些发现表明，在苍蝇中，与哺乳动物一样，睡眠不是单一状态，而是由多种生理和行为状态组成，这些状态会随着环境而变化，并受生活史的影响。在这里，我们回顾了果蝇睡眠研究的进展，讨论它们对理解可能在动物物种中保守的睡眠基本功能的影响，并确定该领域未解决的重要问题。