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UBIQUITOUS CLOCKS. “The discovery of ‘clock genes’ led to the realization that the capacity for circadian gene expression is widespread throughout the body. Using circadian gene reporter methods, one can demonstrate that most peripheral organs and tissues can express circadian oscillations in isolation, yet still receive and may require input from the SCN in vivo. The cell autonomous clock has been found to be ubiquitous, and almost every cell in the body contains a circadian clock.” (SCN = Suprachiasmatic nucleus). https://lnkd.in/dBQ96E6 View in LinkedIn

LIGHT NIGHTS AND LEARNING. “Diurnal Nile Grass rats (Arvicanthis niloticus) exposed to light at night have impaired learning and memory and increase depressive-like responses compared with rats maintained in dark nights. Furthermore, exposure to light at night affects foraging and predation and migration in multiple species.” https://lnkd.in/dH6Ha79 View in LinkedIn

STREET LIGHT IMPACT. “Overall, these results indicate that exposure to levels of nighttime lighting commonly experienced in urban settings can affect the circadian system.” https://lnkd.in/dH6Ha79 View in LinkedIn

IMPACT ON GENES. “Exposure to chronic low levels of light at night alters circadian clock genes in both the SCN and peripheral tissue in mice. Exposure to dim light at night specifically attenuates the rhythm in Per1 and Per2 gene and protein expression in the SCN around the light/dark transition.” (SCN = Suprachiasmatic nucleus). https://lnkd.in/dH6Ha79 View in LinkedIn

KEY REALIZATION. “The last decade of research has reinforced the notion that to understand biological networks we need to do more than just describe genome organization. A major finding that has reshaped our view of biology is the realization that transcriptional complexity rather than genome size or the number of protein-coding genes is the evolutionary driver for increased biological diversity.” https://lnkd.in/dfCi2dc View in LinkedIn

A HOLY GRAIL. “Animal genomes contain a code for construction of the body plan from a fertilized egg. Understanding how genome information is deciphered to create the complex multilayered regulatory systems that drive organismal development, and which become altered in disease, is one of the greatest challenges in the biological sciences.” https://lnkd.in/dfCi2dc View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for this and next weekend deal with animal regulatory kernels, those genetic regulatory networks that are at the heart of regulatory complexity. It has become apparent that it is not the total number of genes or proteins that control biological complexity, but rather the way that these elements are regulated that are the higher level arbiters of diversity. This outline illustrates the breathtaking and exquisite beauty of cellular control. View in LinkedIn

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CLOCK PATHWAY DEFICIENCIES. “Mice deficient in Bmal1 alter glucose and insulin secretion. Bmal1−/− mice increase concentrations of circulating fatty acids resulting in formation of ectopic fat in the liver and skeletal muscle. When rhythmicity is rescued in Bmal1−/− mice with Bmal2, insulin secretion and activity patterns are restored.” https://lnkd.in/dH6Ha79 View in LinkedIn