2017-08-12 15:59:57
One of the characteristics of life is its ability to adapt to changes in the environment. Adaptation to environmental conditions entails a change in the functioning of genes located in the nucleus of cells.
One of the changes in the environment is constituted by the daily rhythms, the endless cycle of days and nights. These cycles have forced living beings to adapt to them by generating circadian rhythms controlled by certain genes. All of these changes are controlled by a “genetic clock.” A central component of this “clock” is a gene that produces a protein appropriately called CLOCK. CLOCK is a transcription factor, that is, a protein that regulates the rate of functioning of the genes with which it interacts. The daily fluctuation in CLOCK production thus affects the functioning of hundreds of genes in a cyclical manner.
Another universal mechanism that affects the functioning of the proteins produced by genes is the so-called alternative RNA processing. Remember that messenger RNA is the nucleic acid that carries the message stored in DNA and from which ribosomes can produce proteins.
Before ribosomes can use the information correctly, the messenger RNA must be processed so that fragments that do not contain useful information to generate proteins are removed from it. Sometimes some fragments with information are excluded from the final messenger RNA, and sometimes they are not. This alternative processing leads to the generation of different proteins from the same gene, which can also have different functions, sometimes completely opposite ones.
Research has found that many organisms have circadian rhythms in the alternative processing of messenger RNA. In particular, “cold-blooded” organisms. Since mammals are “warm-blooded” organisms, it was initially assumed that this type of mechanism could not operate in them. However, the fact that we are “warm-blooded” does not mean that we are always at the same temperature. In fact, the body temperature of mammals fluctuates between day and night.
Researchers at the University of Berlin in Germany have found that the normal one degree Celsius change in body temperature between day and night is enough to trigger changes in the alternative processing of hundreds of genes.
This discovery adds new evidence about the mechanisms that control circadian rhythms and their importance.
More information on Jorge Laborda’s Blog: Genetic rhythms to the heat of the bodies
Referencia: Preußner et al., Body Temperature Cycles Control Rhythmic Alternative Splicing in Mammals, Molecular Cell (2017),
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