Explore the mystery of the human body clock

The human body is a wonderful organism, in the absence of time, days, our bodies have a natural biological clock at work. Many diseases, human development, and psychological changes are all associated with it, then in the end what is the body's biological clock? How does it work? Scientists have been explored. The latest "scientific" (sciances) "natural" (nature) magazine published two reports on our understanding of biological clocks have new ideas.






Human beings have known that some biological activities are in accordance with the time change (diurnal cycles, seasonal changes or tidal fluctuations, etc.) carried out with a cyclical rhythm, this rule is known as clock (CircadianClock). As the clock of the basic theory in biology research and therapeutics, etc. occupy a unique position, it has always been a focus of research scientists, this issue "scientific" and "natural" has two independent research teams are In this respect has gained significant results.

The first article from the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom Department of Botany University of Cambridge, Department of Biology, University of York, where researchers found that plant response to environmental changes is a key clock molecule.

Of plant and animal cells contain a circadian clock gene expression in many of the feedback loop, in which a series of genes with each other to activate or inhibit each other to form the biological clock mode, but in this article, the researchers were surprised to find, not a protein, or gene, but rather a group called cyclic adenosine diphosphate ribose (cyclicadenosine diphosphate ribose, cADPR) which plays an important role. This discovery changed the way we present the concept of the framework for the biological clock - that the only need of gene expression in the nucleus loops, in fact this process requires the formation of the whole cell component of the signaling networks.

The researchers found that interfering with cADPR signals will lead to clock a time of disorder, for example, elimination of cADPR give inaccurate clock, walking slowly, so the researchers think that cADPR signal is the time to help optimize plant growth system is an important component.



Moreover, in case such as drought, salt stress and other environmental stress, plant cells, cADPR molecule will also participate in the fight against the process, some of these signals trigger cellular response, is used to help ride out the storm cell. Integrated into the molecular processes of biological time clock timing of the change or stability to provide a system to ensure that cells can survive changes in the environment.

In the second article, from the University of California, Irvine (University of California, Irvine), Japan's Toho University (TohoUniversity) research staff on the basis of previous studies found that the gene CLOCK activate the circadian rhythm of BMAL1 proteins bind a single amino acid modified, will trigger, and circadian rhythm-related genetic events.



CLOCK previous studies have shown that they can serve as a kind of enzyme to modify chromatin, it has passed the further analysis, the researchers were surprised to find that single amino acid change in the mechanism to activate the clock, the article Corresponding author Paolo Sassone-Corsi said, "This triggering role of the so precise, it looks like a control compounds can be the perfect target. In biology to see such a precise molecular regulation is always relaxed and happy people," while he also that, if this amino acid modification procedure is subject to any form of damage, then the entire molecular switch mechanism will fail, and that could lead to circadian rhythm-related diseases. Currently, he and his research team are testing to this as the target antibodies.

This is by far received the most research on the human circadian rhythm clear message for insomnia and other related diseases, drug therapy to determine a precise target. As the clock to disrupt important for human health effects, including insomnia, depression, heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, etc., a variety of diseases are related to this. Therefore, the treatment can be found accurately target can solve many problems, the present Sassone-Corsi, and others will study this next-targeting antibodies