A group of investigators managed to identify a type of internal body clock that functions 24 hours a day, in the cells of all species, regardless of complexity. The mechanism can be found in human neurons as well as in algal cells and poplar trees, for example. The same research revealed that this circadian clock in fact appeared millions of years ago, which is why all creatures on Earth has it. Most likely, the common ancestors of most species in the world had it too, and they passed it on to their offspring.
Results obtained in this study could conceivably be used to develop new medical tools for addressing body clock dysfunctions that appear in shift workers, pilots, and other people working at night.
Circadian clocks play a critically-important role for all species, controlling daily and seasonal activities (including the hibernation of bears), sleep cycle patterns and bird migrations. The clocks also control the shedding of fur or excess skin, as well as a host of other physiological processes.
Details of the investigation appeared in two separate research papers, which were published in the January 27 issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature. Experts from the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, in the United Kingdom, conducted these studies.
One of the most interesting discoveries is listed in the paper authored by experts at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS), who discovered 24-hour rhythms in red blood cells.
The reason why this is such a major find is that red blood cells don't have DNA. Until now, it was believed that circadian rhythms only affect the activity patterns of DNA and genes.
“We know that clocks exist in all our cells; they're hard-wired into the cell. Imagine what we'd be like without a clock to guide us through our days,” says expert Akhilesh Reddy.
“The cell would be in the same position if it didn't have a clock to coordinate its daily activities,” adds the
University of Cambridge investigator, who is also the lead author of the IMS study.
“The implications of this for health are manifold. We already know that disrupted clocks – for example, caused by shift-work and jet-lag – are associated with metabolic disorders such as diabetes, mental health problems and even cancer,” the scientist adds.
“By furthering our knowledge of how the 24-hour clock in cells works, we hope that the links to these disorders will be made clearer. This will, in the longer term, lead to new therapies that we couldn't even have thought about a couple of years ago,” he argues.
In the other study, experts from UC, the University of Edinburgh and the Observatoire Oceanologique in Banyuls, France, found a similar 24-hour cycle in marine algae. The main implication here is that internal body clocks appeared on Earth as soon as early life form adapted to the night and day cycle.
“This groundbreaking research shows that body clocks are ancient mechanisms that have stayed with us through a billion years of evolution,” says University of Edinburgh School of Biological Sciences expert and lead study author Andrew Millar.
“They must be far more important and sophisticated than we previously realized. More work is needed to determine how and why these clocks developed in people - and most likely all other living things on earth - and what role they play in controlling our bodies,” he concludes.
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