Mold bioclock similiar to humans

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Clock ticks in mold, students

Genes activate internal timer

ALEXIS GARROBO

Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: News

http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2007/02/

23/News/Clock.Ticks.In.Mold.Students-2738425.shtml

Students and bread mold have something in common - biological

clocks.

University researchers used a study of bread mold to publish the

first working model on what makes biological clocks tick.

Genetics professor Arnold led the interdisciplinary group

of geneticists, physicists, undergraduates and professors who found

three genes responsible for regulating the biological clock.

The bread mold - Neurospora crassa - in the study has a similar

biological clock to that of humans, plants and other living

organisms.

The clock is a mechanism which regulates different biological

functions, such as sleeping, eating and even when it is best to mate.

All biological clocks share an oscillator - generally fluctuating

levels of certain proteins. Biological clocks also have an

activator - usually genes that turn on the oscillator. The

biological clocks also display a tendency for the oscillator to try

to deactivate the activator. This changes the levels of proteins,

basically making the clock " tick. "

" It is so important just to live. The biological clock helps us make

our way in life, " Arnold said.

The scientists collected data and then used an ensemble method using

principles of physics and statistics, to see how the biological

clock's functioning can be applied to different biological systems.

The physicists and geneticists worked together to collaborate data

and expertise to gather the findings of the research.

" It worked really great, " said Heinz-Bernd Schuttler, a physics

professor at the University.

" We couldn't have done this alone. It was a good match for

collaboration, and it has been very exciting to work on something

very out-of-the-box. "

Schuttler said the methods used to verify and come up with the data

of this study also can be applied to any genetic or biological

circuitry.

The data resulting from the study also identified a minimum of 295

genes affected by the biological clock, Arnold said.

This information can be used to identify and connect effects on

human health, and to understand the effects of the biological clock

in other organisms, he said.

The study was published Tuesday on the Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences' Web site, www.pnas.org.