[HN Gopher] Circadian rhythm gene in mice discovered
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       Circadian rhythm gene in mice discovered
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 9 points
       Date   : 2021-06-09 18:20 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (vtx.vt.edu)
 (TXT) w3m dump (vtx.vt.edu)
        
       | 725686 wrote:
       | I have no idea of what I'm talking about, but, is there really a
       | gene for this, and a gene for that? Maybe for eye color, but I
       | would expect a complex gene interaction for such things as the
       | circadian rhythm. You might find a gene that, if disrupted, might
       | disrupt the circadian rhythm, but maybe it is just one of a
       | million genes that controls that, which happens to be in the
       | critical path?
        
         | tgb wrote:
         | There's more than one gene for it, and contrary to the article
         | intro, they're pretty well studied at this point (though
         | there's certainly more to do, as this illustrates). See for
         | example:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_clock#Mammalian_cloc...
         | 
         | There is a single gene that if disrupted will kill your
         | circadian rhythm: Bmal1 aka Arntl. No other known gene has this
         | property, but some combinations of other will do the same.
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARNTL
        
         | gus_massa wrote:
         | I think it's still not 100% clear, but the circadian rhythm
         | involves a few enzymes and proteins that are not enzymes and
         | other stuff. Probably 10 or more. Only a few of them depend on
         | light and are used to synchronize with the external day-night
         | cycle.
         | 
         | So ... it's even less clear, but there are probably at least 10
         | or more genes involved, and if any of them is too broken you
         | get some illness.
         | 
         | This is only one of the many genes involved in the circadian
         | rhythm (in mice, and probably have an equivalent in humans).
         | Each discovery is important and add some incremental amount of
         | information, but usually the press article likes to make a
         | groundbreaking discovery that solves all the related problems
         | for ever.
         | 
         | It's more like "the gene of height", or "the gene of weight".
         | Some features like eye color has only one gene (or one gene
         | that is much more important than the others), but many other
         | features involve a lot of genes.
        
         | gremloni wrote:
         | Possibly, or since it could be one protein like melatonin that
         | controls all sleep function, it could be just one gene just as
         | easily.
        
       | tibbydudeza wrote:
       | Life on earth is so closely tied to the 24 hour day night cycle
       | and the presence of gravity.
       | 
       | Living on Mars or anywhere else is going to be a real challenge
       | considering the health issues astronauts faced from living on the
       | ISS for long durations.
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-09 23:02 UTC)