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Bio-Clock
We keep learning more about the importance of cycles in relation to
time, and our gene's ability to tell time has now come to the fore front
of study.
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Researchers Publish First Working Model That Explains How Biological
Clocks Work
15 February 2007 - Contact: Kim Carlyle
Science has known for decades that biological clocks
govern the behavior of everything from humans to lowly bread mold.
These ticking timekeepers hold the key to many diseases, annoy
passengers on intercontinental flights and can mean life or death
for small creatures trying to survive in nature.
Despite the importance of biological clocks, their mechanisms have
remained unclear. Now, a team of researchers from the University of
Georgia has produced the first working model that explains how
biological clocks work.
"When the clock goes awry in mammals, it can lead to many diseases,
ranging from cancer and sleep disorders to heart and lung disease,"
said Jonathan Arnold, a professor in the department of genetics and
leader of the research. "It is very important that we know how the
clock works at the molecular level."
The research will be published this week in the online edition of
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Arnold's co-authors on the paper were members of a UGA
interdisciplinary team, though several have now moved on to other
positions. They include: Heinz-Bernd Schuttler, professor of physics
and astronomy at UGA; Yihai Yu, a former graduate student in
physics, now working in industry; Wubei Dong, a postdoctoral fellow
in Arnold's lab in genetics; Cara Altimus, a former UGA
undergraduate now a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University;
Xiaojia Tang, a doctoral student in Shuttler's lab; James Griffith,
Arnold's research coordinator, who is supported by funds from the
UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Melissa
Morello, also a former UGA undergrad, now a student at the Medical
College of Georgia; and Lisa Dudek, also a former undergraduate in
physics and now a graduate student at UCLA.
Because of the importance of biological clocks to survival and
health, evolution has built them into an astoundingly diverse array
of organisms, including bacteria and humans. These clocks make it
possible for organisms to "tell time," even in the absence of such
stimuli as temperature changes or daylight.
The UGA team discovered how three genes in Neurospora crassa - bread
mold - make such a clock tick at the molecular level. The paper in
PNAS describes how to identify genetic networks and show how the
tools of systems biology can yield insights into what makes the
clock tick.
"Much of what we know about the biological clock comes from the
study of Neurospora," said Arnold, "so the insights on this clock
mechanism are likely to provide insights into clocks of other
organisms."The discovery also has broad implications for
understanding biochemical signaling and other regulatory processes
in cells, said Arnold.
Before this research, there has been little experimental support for
any of the many existing models of the biological clock. The UGA
team studied actions of three genes in Neurospora: white-collar-1,
white-collar-2 and frequency. The team found that the products of
these three genes constitute the building blocks of a biological
clock. The discovery crosses species boundaries, since human beings
have a gene analogous to white-collar-1.
A number of human diseases are associated with genes under control
of the biological clock. For instance, a gene called PAI-1 is
involved with early-morning heart attacks. Another gene called DBP
affects sleep cycles. Both are controlled by clock genes.
"One of the most interesting parts of the research is that the
biological clock shows how a complex trait can emerge from the
interaction of even a small number of gene regulatory elements,"
said Arnold.
###
One interesting aspect of the research is the involvement of UGA
undergraduates through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates
program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The research published in PNAS also was supported by grants
from the National Science Foundation.
Contact: Kim Carlyle
University of Georgia
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Living on the Lost Planet 
