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Circadian surprise: A heat sensor for body-clock synchronization
October 30, 2009New research on the fruit-fly brain points to a possible mechanism by which temperature influences the body clock, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
Although much is known about how light affects the body clock - also known at the circadian clock - it is not well understood which cells or organs sense daily temperature changes or how temperature signals reach the part of the brain that contains the circadian clock.
A variety of organisms, including insects and humans, have evolved an internal circadian clock to regulate patterns of behaviour throughout the day - for example sleep, appetite, alertness and concentration.
Senior study author Dr Ralf Stanewsky, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, explains: "Given the substantial similarity between the fly and mammalian clock, our studies might also help to understand the human circadian clock and in the future perhaps contribute to developing treatments against the negative effects of sleep-disorders and shift-work."
Specially evolved "clock cells" in the brain contain the circadian clock, which needs to be synchronised with the natural environmental cycles every day to prevent them running too fast or too slow.
Dr Stanewsky and colleagues have shown that fly brains were unable to synchronize to temperature cycles when separated from the rest of the body. This is in contrast with the ability to synchronize to light-dark cycles, which can take place with or without a connection to the fly body.
This study, reported today in the journal Neuron, identified a gene called nocte that, when altered, interferes with the fly's ability to synchronize its body clock using temperature signals. Importantly, disabling the nocte gene in nerve cells in the body also prevented the brain's ability to synchronize with temperature.
Dr Stanewsky's group wants to continue their studies on the fruit fly Drosophila and ultimately learn how the fly ensures perfect synchronisation of the circadian clock with the environment.
University of London
Senior study author Dr Ralf Stanewsky, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, explains: "Given the substantial similarity between the fly and mammalian clock, our studies might also help to understand the human circadian clock and in the future perhaps contribute to developing treatments against the negative effects of sleep-disorders and shift-work."
Specially evolved "clock cells" in the brain contain the circadian clock, which needs to be synchronised with the natural environmental cycles every day to prevent them running too fast or too slow.
Dr Stanewsky and colleagues have shown that fly brains were unable to synchronize to temperature cycles when separated from the rest of the body. This is in contrast with the ability to synchronize to light-dark cycles, which can take place with or without a connection to the fly body.
This study, reported today in the journal Neuron, identified a gene called nocte that, when altered, interferes with the fly's ability to synchronize its body clock using temperature signals. Importantly, disabling the nocte gene in nerve cells in the body also prevented the brain's ability to synchronize with temperature.
Dr Stanewsky's group wants to continue their studies on the fruit fly Drosophila and ultimately learn how the fly ensures perfect synchronisation of the circadian clock with the environment.
University of London
Circadian Clock Current Events and Circadian Clock News RSSNew paper describes connections between Circadian and metabolic systems
A paper by University of Notre Dame biologist Giles Duffield and a team of researchers offers new insights into a gene that plays a key role in modulating the body's Circadian system and may also simultaneously modulate its metabolic system.
Faulty body clock may make kids bipolar
Malfunctioning circadian clock genes may be responsible for bipolar disorder in children. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry found four versions of the regulatory gene RORB that were associated with pediatric bipolar disorder.
U-M discovery about biological clocks overturns long-held theory
University of Michigan mathematicians and their British colleagues say they have identified the signal that the brain sends to the rest of the body to control biological rhythms, a finding that overturns a long-held theory about our internal clock.
Plants' internal clock can improve climate-change models
The ability of plants to tell the time, a mechanism common to all living beings, enables them to survive, grow and reproduce.
MicroRNAs grease the cell's circadian clockwork
Most of our cells possess an internal clock, a group of genes displaying a cyclic expression pattern that reaches a peak once a day.
A Biological Basis for the 8-Hour Workday?
The circadian clock coordinates physiological and behavioral processes on a 24-hour rhythm, allowing animals to anticipate changes in their environment and prepare accordingly. Scientists already know that some genes are controlled by the clock and are turned on only one time during each 24-hour cycle.
Scripps research scientists model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock
In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that is surprisingly similar to two cryptochrome proteins that control the "master clock" in humans and other mammals.
Missing or mutated 'clock' gene linked to vascular disease
The circadian clocks that set the rhythmic motion of our bodies for wakeful days and sleepy nights can also set us up for vascular disease when broken, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.
UNC study: Tinkering with the circadian clock can suppress cancer growth
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that disruption of the circadian clock - the internal time-keeping mechanism that keeps the body running on a 24-hour cycle - can slow the progression of cancer.
UNC study supports role of circadian clock in response to chemotherapy
For years, research has hinted that the time of day that cancer patients receive chemotherapy can impact their chances of survival. But the lack of a clear scientific explanation for this finding has kept clinicians from considering timing as a factor in treatment.
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