Editing Sleep debt (section)

==Phosphorylation of proteins==

In mice, there are 80 proteins in the brain, called "sleep need index phosphoproteins" (SNIPPs), which become more and more [[phosphorylated]] during waking hours, and are dephosphorylated during sleep. The phosphorylation is aided by the gene Sik3. A type of [[laboratory mouse]] (named Sleepy) possesses an altered version of this protein, which is called SLEEPY, where the protein is more active than the regular version. This results in the mice showing more [[slow-wave sleep]] activity during non-REM sleep—a reliable indicator that more sleep is met.{{Clarify|date=December 2023}} Inhibition of the Sik3 gene decreases phosphorylation and slow-wave activity in both normal and modified mice.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wang Z, Ma J, Miyoshi C, Li Y, Sato M, Ogawa Y, Lou T, Ma C, Gao X, Lee C, Fujiyama T, Yang X, Zhou S, Hotta-Hirashima N, Klewe-Nebenius D, Ikkyu A, Kakizaki M, Kanno S, Cao L, Takahashi S, Peng J, Yu Y, Funato H, Yanagisawa M, Liu Q | title = Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis of the molecular substrates of sleep need | journal = Nature | volume = 558 | issue = 7710 | pages = 435–439 | date = June 2018 | pmid = 29899451 | pmc = 6350790 | doi = 10.1038/s41586-018-0218-8 | bibcode = 2018Natur.558..435W }}</ref>