How two-faced!
Jan. 7th, 2003 02:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheScientists: Biological Clock Is Two-Faced Protein
A two-sided protein that tells cells when to grow and when to rest is nature's timepiece, a discovery that offers help to those whose internal clocks have been disrupted by jet lag or health problems, a husband-and-wife scientific team said Monday.
The two-sided, cylindrical protein, which has been recreated in the laboratory and altered by the team to confirm its function, directs 12-minute growth and rest cycles in living cells, the Purdue University researchers said.
"One 'face' handles cell enlargement. Then the protein 'flips over,' allowing the second face to carry out other activities while cell enlargement rests," said James Morre, a medicinal chemist at Purdue's pharmacy school, who has researched the origins of biological clocks since he was a student 40 years ago.
[...] The body's biological clock, sometimes referred to as Circadian rhythm, has been thought to have hormonal and, ultimately, multiple genetic sources -- though it has been tenuously linked to cycles of the moon and to sunspots. The mechanism seems similar in all organisms, directing plants to unfurl leaves or animals to start a mating cycle.
A two-sided protein that tells cells when to grow and when to rest is nature's timepiece, a discovery that offers help to those whose internal clocks have been disrupted by jet lag or health problems, a husband-and-wife scientific team said Monday.
The two-sided, cylindrical protein, which has been recreated in the laboratory and altered by the team to confirm its function, directs 12-minute growth and rest cycles in living cells, the Purdue University researchers said.
"One 'face' handles cell enlargement. Then the protein 'flips over,' allowing the second face to carry out other activities while cell enlargement rests," said James Morre, a medicinal chemist at Purdue's pharmacy school, who has researched the origins of biological clocks since he was a student 40 years ago.
[...] The body's biological clock, sometimes referred to as Circadian rhythm, has been thought to have hormonal and, ultimately, multiple genetic sources -- though it has been tenuously linked to cycles of the moon and to sunspots. The mechanism seems similar in all organisms, directing plants to unfurl leaves or animals to start a mating cycle.