 |
|
|
|
|
Studies Link Circadian Rhythm, Metabolism, Longevity to One Protein
New molecular clock component ties all three together, researchers say
By Jeffrey Perkel
HealthDay Reporter
|
| | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
THURSDAY, July 24 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers report today the identification of a new cog in the machinery of the molecular clock that controls mammalian circadian rhythms.
But the protein, SIRT1, is not merely some new component. It can also sense and act on the cell's metabolic state. And it is related to genes that have been implicated in longevity. Thus, these findings link for the first time the molecular mechanisms of circadian rhythms, metabolism and longevity in a single protein.
Text Continues Below
"Everyone feels that their normal life is dominated by circadian rhythms, and they might feel also that metabolism is circadian: hormones, temperature, desire to eat, sleep -- all that is metabolism," explained Paolo Sassone-Corsi of the University of California, Irvine, who led one of the two research teams that reported the findings. "The fact that we have found a molecular link between internal clock and metabolism explains why these are so interconnected."
The findings "are actually very exciting, because they link the very interesting sirtuin-1 pathway to the circadian clock for the first time," said Joseph Takahashi, a professor of neurobiology and physiology at Northwestern University, who was not involved in this research. "It is a direct molecular link to the clock mechanism."
The findings were published in a pair of reports in the July 25 issue of Cell.
Sassone-Corsi and Ueli Schibler, of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, led independent research teams that made the discoveries. Each approached the problem from a different angle.
Sassone-Corsi's group was looking specifically for an enzyme that could counterbalance the activity of another integral clock component, a protein called CLOCK.
According to Sassone-Corsi, approximately 10 percent to 15 percent of all cellular genes are expressed or regulated in a circadian manner; that is, their abundance or activity fluctuates over the course of the day.
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>
|
Copyright © 2008 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 7/24/2008
|
|
SOURCES: Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Ph.D., chairman, Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine; Ueli Schibler, Ph.D., professor, Molecular Biology, and investigator, National Center of Competence in Research "Frontiers in Genetics," University of Geneva, Switzerland; Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D., professor, neurobiology and physiology, and investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.; July 25, 2008, Cell
|
.gif)
