• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

A world first in circadian clock manipulation

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 25, 2021
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

New method allows reversible manipulation of the circadian period using light

IMAGE

Credit: Issey Takahashi

The Nagoya University Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) research team of Designated Associate Professor Tsuyoshi Hirota, Postdoctoral Fellow Simon Miller, Professor Kenichiro Itami and graduate student Tsuyoshi Oshima (Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, JSPS), in collaboration with the group of Professor Ben Feringa and Postdoctoral Fellow Dušan Kolarski of Groningen University in the Netherlands, have achieved a world first: fully reversible manipulation of the period of the circadian clock using light, by exchanging part of a compound with a light-activated switch.

Waking in the morning, sleeping at night – the majority of our biological activities repeat within a daily cycle. The internal process which governs this rhythm is known as the circadian clock. While it is understood that the circadian clock is controlled by the combined functions of clock genes and clock proteins, the process by which it is possible to control and stabilize the rhythm over the lengthy period of a day has been shrouded in mystery. In order to tackle this question, the researchers established a chemical biology process for large-scale analysis of the effect of compounds on the circadian rhythm in cultured human cells, elucidating the significant molecular mechanisms which determine the daily period.

This large-scale chemical screening identified two compounds – TH303 and its analogue TH129 – which lengthened the circadian clock period. The research team then worked on elucidating how these compounds interact with the clock protein CRY1 at a molecular level using X-ray crystallography. They found that part of these compounds, known as a benzophenone, possessed a similar structure to the cis isomer of azobenzene, a light-activated switch. When they then analyzed the response to light of GO1323, a variant of TH129 in which benzophenone is displaced by azobenzene, they found that its structure changed to the cis isomer under ultraviolet light, and back to the trans isomer under white light. According to computer simulations, the cis isomer of GO1323 interacts identically to TH129 with CRY1, while the trans isomer has no interaction with it.

Thus, when exposed to ultraviolet light, the circadian clock period of cultured human cells which had been treated with GO1323 was extended compared with those which had been kept in the dark. Furthermore, when exposed to white light, these cells’ circadian clock period returned to normal, proving that the process is reversible. As ultraviolet light is damaging to cells, the research team had to find a way to adapt the process to use a non-harmful area of the spectrum to extend the period. They synthesized GO1423, containing tetraorthofluoroazobenzine. This compound changes to its cis isomer under green light, and to its trans isomer under violet light, while maintaining the other desirable characteristics of GO1323. When cells treated with GO1423 were exposed to green light, their circadian rhythm period was extended compared with those which had been kept in the dark, and when exposed to violet light, the effect was reversed. Thus, the researchers succeeded in producing a reversible method for controlling the circadian clock period using visible light.

Control of the circadian clock using methods such as these is expected to contribute to the treatment of related diseases such as sleep disorders, metabolic syndrome and cancer, and this research achievement represents an important and exciting step forward in the field.

###

Media Contact
Tsuyoshi Hirota
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c12280

Tags: BiochemistryBiologyCell BiologyCircadian RhythmMetabolism/Metabolic DiseasesMolecular BiologyneurobiologySleep/Sleep Disorders
Share13Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Discovery of feather mite species from the Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis.

Feather mite species related to the Laysan albatross discovered in Japan

February 1, 2023
25th Anniversary of Redox Medicine Society

Redox Medicine Society celebrates 25 years of excellence and success

February 1, 2023

Ancient fossils shed new light on evolution of sea worm

February 1, 2023

Two Tufts faculty elected to world’s largest scientific society

January 31, 2023
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Jean du Terrail, Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Owkin

    Nature Medicine publishes breakthrough Owkin research on the first ever use of federated learning to train deep learning models on multiple hospitals’ histopathology data

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • First made-in-Singapore antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) approved to enter clinical trials

    58 shares
    Share 23 Tweet 15
  • Metal-free batteries raise hope for more sustainable and economical grids

    41 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • One-pot reaction creates versatile building block for bioactive molecules

    37 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Powering neutron science

Kobe University and AGC successfully convert dry cleaning solvent into useful chemical compounds

Insilico Medicine opens largest AI-powered biotechnology research center in the Middle East

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 42 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In