News today of two new studies providing an unexpected breakthrough insight into the mechanisms of the body clock.
The researchers claim to have worked out how the body clock works in all forms of life, from human cells to algae!
They found evidence of circadian rhythm in red blood cells, which was unexpected because the circadian rhythm has always been assumed to be linked to DNA - but red blood cells do not have DNA. The algae and red blood cells were able to keep time without gene activity.
The peroxiredoxins which display the 24-hour cycle are present in virtually all known organisms.
News story:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...y-unlocks-secrets-of-the-body-clock-1.1082237
The two papers:
Circadian clocks in human red blood cells
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7331/full/nature09702.html
Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7331/full/nature09654.html
The researchers claim to have worked out how the body clock works in all forms of life, from human cells to algae!
They found evidence of circadian rhythm in red blood cells, which was unexpected because the circadian rhythm has always been assumed to be linked to DNA - but red blood cells do not have DNA. The algae and red blood cells were able to keep time without gene activity.
The peroxiredoxins which display the 24-hour cycle are present in virtually all known organisms.
News story:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...y-unlocks-secrets-of-the-body-clock-1.1082237
The two papers:
Circadian clocks in human red blood cells
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7331/full/nature09702.html
Circadian rhythms persist without transcription in a eukaryote
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v469/n7331/full/nature09654.html