It is found that protein deficiency leads to the disorder of biological clock function

Toronto, Aug 27 (reporter Feng Weidong) taking a cross time zone overnight flight or frequent night shift can often make people sleepless all night Researchers at McGill University in Canada have found that the phenomenon is closely related to the basic biological process of protein synthesis, according to the latest issue of neuron The findings will help treat sleep disorders caused by travel across time zones and night shifts, as well as chronic diseases such as depression and Parkinson's disease   The earth's rotation produces day and night, giving all living beings circadian rhythms In the mammalian brain, "biological clock" drives the life rhythm of sleep, wakefulness, feeding and metabolism as well as many other necessary processes The internal operation of brain clock is very complex, and scientists have been exploring the molecular process behind it   Natham sonnberg, Professor of Biochemistry at Goodman Cancer Research Center at McGill University, studied how protein synthesis is controlled within a biological clock The research finally found a repressor protein in the biological clock After removing the protein, the function of brain biological clock will be improved surprisingly   Based on similar clocks in all mammals, the team used mice to conduct experiments Experimental mice lack a special protein called 4E-BP1, which can block the important function of protein synthesis It was found that mice lacking the protein could overcome the clock interference more quickly By inducing a state like jet lag, mice lacking the protein took half as long to adapt to time zone changes as normal mice   In addition, the researchers found that vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a small protein essential for brain clock function, increased in mice lacking 4E-BP1 This result shows that the disorder of circadian clock can be improved by gene regulation, which opens a new way for the treatment of circadian clock related diseases   Editor in chief circle
As soon as the black eye is closed, the day is over - sleeping is the instinct of animals to adapt to the phenomenon of day and night It is difficult for human consciousness to interfere, so intelligent people may not sleep well The good news: with the discovery of several "hypnotic proteins" and "lucid proteins," it's possible that we can improve our sleep quality without relying on chemical hypnotics However, we don't know if this future treatment has side effects The brain is so complex that reducing one protein can improve one function and hinder another.