Nobel Prize Asks You to Follow Your Body Clock

Congratulations to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young, who are rewarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. All the living organisms have a biological clock that helps them adapt to the regular rhythm of the day and further keep the life homeostasis. In summary, they jointly discovered three key clock genes, Period (PER), Timeless (TIM) and Doubletime (DBT), which play vital functions in controlling circadian rhythm.

To celebrate their awards and acknowledge their contributions on human health, GenScript launches a circadian rhythm related gene ORF clones promotion for all scientists. We are aiming to do our best to support scientific endeavors through offering high-quality products and services all the time.

Illustration: NobelPrize.org

In 1984, Jeffrey Hall and Michael Rosbash at Brandeis University identified and isolated the Period gene that encodes a protein named PER. They showed that protein PER level peaks at night and decline in daytime following 24-hour cycle. Michael Young at Rockefeller University independently discovered another monumental gene Timeless that encodes TIM protein involved in regulating PER’s cyclic production in cells. The TIM binds to PER and shuttle it from cytoplasm into its nucleus, where it can inhibit the expression of the period gene. Further studies revealed the DBT protein, a kinase that could phosphorylates PER to promote its degradation, triggering the transcription of the clock and clock-controlled genes. Consequently, the oscillations of PER and TIM proteins presence causes oscillations in themselves and other clock genes' expression, which is the basis for circadian rhythmicity.

Their work is very meaningful because the internal biological clock is now well recognized as a key feature of eukaryotic organisms from fruit flies to humans. The beauty biological clocks is that it allows organisms to adapt their physiology to the Earth’s associated rotation daily light cycles, including blood pressure, sleep, body temperature, and metabolism. Numerous evidence suggest that disruption of circadian rhythm may cause serious health problems, for instance, increased risk of cancer. Scientists are now looking to improve treatment of cardiovascular and other diseases by coordinating delivery of drugs with a patient’s clock.