THE NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE OR PHYSIOLOGY 2017 GOES TO 3 AMERICANS FOR BODY CLOCK STUDIES

Admin October 13, 2017
THE NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE OR PHYSIOLOGY 2017 GOES TO 3 AMERICANS FOR BODY CLOCK STUDIES

“When you look at the light bulb above you, you remember Thomas Alva Edison. When the telephone bell rings, you remember Alexander Graham Bell. Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. When you see the blue sky, you think of Sir C.V. Raman “– Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam

This year’s Nobel Laureates isolated a gene that controls the daily biological rhythm using fruit flies as a model organism. Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discoveries about the molecular mechanisms controlling the body’s circadian rhythm.

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From left: Dr. Rosbash, Dr. Young, Dr. Hall

CIRCADIAN RHYTHM

Circadian rhythm regulates the periods of tiredness and wakefulness during 24-hour cycle. Derived from the Latin “circa diem” meaning “approximately a day”, the body is calibrated by the appearance and disappearance of natural light in a 24-hour period. The body responds to light and darkness and is found in all living things-plants, animals (including microbes) and human beings. Like a switch, light can turn off and turn on genes that control the molecular structure of biological clocks. Circadian rhythms determine the sleep-wake cycle, influences hormone release, body temperature, metabolism and other functions.

When it is dark at night, the eyes send a signal to the hypothalamus that it is time to feel tired. The brain, in turn, sends a signal, to your body to release melatonin hormone, which makes us feel drowsy. The melatonin secretion begins two hours before natural sleep time and peaks during the middle of night. Circadian rhythm works best when there is regular sleep habit. Staying awake, shift work, light from mobile devices during night may alter circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles.

IMPORTANCE OF THEIR WORK

Life on earth is adapted to the rotation of our planet. Living organisms, including man, have an internal, biological clock that helps them to anticipate and adapt to the regular rhythm of the day. The working of this system was identified by the three scientists who used fruit flies to isolate a gene that controls the rhythm of a living organism’s daily life.

Dr. Hall, Dr. Rosbash and Dr. Young were able to explain how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the earth’s revolutions. By examining the internal workings of fruit flies, they were able to determine that the gene they were analyzing encoded a protein that accumulated in cells at night and then degraded during the day. The researchers studied fruit flies in which a gene called period controls the circadian rhythm; when it was mutated the insects lost the rhythm.

Our inner clock adapts our physiology to the different phases of the day. The clock regulates critical functions such as behavior, hormone levels, sleep, body temperature and metabolism. Our well-being is affected when there is a mismatch between our external environment and this internal biological clock, for example when we travel across several time zones and experience “jet lag”. There are also indications that chronic misalignment between our life style and the rhythm dictated by our inner time keeper is associated with increased risk for various diseases.

The period gene (PER) which was discovered in the year 1984 helps to understand that the cells use it to make a protein that builds up at night during sleep and degrades in the daytime along with the insect’s sleep-wake cycle. The period gene is broken down in the daytime and regains its function again the next night, again synthesizing PER.

Their work is important because the misalignment between a person’s life style and the rhythm dictated by an inner time keeper could affect well-being and could contribute to the risks for various diseases.

REFERENCES

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2017/press.html

http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/what-is-circadian-rhythm/article19785658.ece

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/

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