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TECHN
..
THE BATTALION
Behind
Texas A&M researchers identify bacterial gene that regulates internal clocks
G Ly*:
.4, ri . ."%k-
BvArun Arjunan
The Battalion
An overnight flight for a business trip or vacation can
have unpleasant side effects, to which junior French ma
jor Christie Clapp can attest. Clapp visited Belgium last
semester to participate in a study abroad program.
The travel itself was not strenuous, but Clapp most
likely experienced jet lag, which is the disorientation
and insomnia caused by traveling through different time
zones.
The trip was really tiring; 1 had to sleep the whole
day after we arrived in Belgium. It took me about a week
get back to normal,” Clapp said.
This type of exhaustion is not unusual among over
seas travelers and other people who maintain irregular
sleeping schedules. Usually those who work nights and
other odd shifts suffer from jet-lag symptoms like dis
orientation and tiredness. It would seem that one with an
atypical sleep pattern is subject to jet lag and its associ
ated effects on behavior.
* The problem is caused by disrupting the body’s nat
ural timing system.
Dr. Susan Golden, a biology professor at Texas A&M
i said jet lag is the most obvious evidence that people have
an internal timer that operates without receiving any in-
ormation from their immediate surroundings.
“Only when this biological clock resets itself do peo
ple completely adjust to the schedule of their environ
ment. This internal clock is known as circadian rhythms,”
she said. ,,
Only when this
biological clock
resets itself do
people completely
adjust to the
schedule of their
environment.
In humans, its
biological basis is
the suprachias-
matic nucleus
(SCN), a part of
the hypothalamus
gland in the brain.
Light receptors in
the eye transmit
light-induced sig
nals to the SCN
and switch off
production of a
hormone called
melatonin. The
body’s level of
melatonin increas
es after darkness falls, making people feel drowsy. Cir
cadian rhythms are not specific to human beings. Ani
mals and plants also have these internal timing devices.
In 1990, scientists discovered that single-celled bac
teria contain similar biological timers. The bacterial
clocks are capable of carrying out the same function that
— Susan Golden
Texas A&M Biology Professor
clocks in larger organisms are able to execute.
Since this development, extensive re
search has been conduct
ed on this biological
mechanism. More
recently. Golden'
and her Texas A&M research
team have discovered an
important key to circadian)
clocks in bacteria.
In the Aug. 4 issue of Sci-'
ence, the Texas
A&M researchers re-* ■? ^
port the discovery of a gene
called cik A that regulates^
the internal timing
device clock of,
cyanobacteria.
Golden and
her team mutated the^
%
Angelique Foro/The Battalion
bacteria by introducing a transposon, or a jump
ing gene, into the bacteria. The jumping gene in-]
serted itself into several bacteria, generating ran- 1
domly mutated bacteria. Each of these strains gave"
rise to their own mutant colony. The group tested
each colony for a defect in the bacteria’s timing abili-'
ty and then located and identified the mutated gene as
it was marked with the transposon.
Normal bacteria followed a pattern of light emission
'that repeated every 24 hours. Bacteria with the mutation
Tor the cik A protein did not respond to the changes
fin light and other environmental cues an could not
'reset their clocks, losing two hours in its cycle of
Might emission.
These mutants continued their usual schedule in a
different conditions without adapt-'
ing to the new environment, experiencing jet lag like
symptoms.
Golden said that it is essen
Itial for organisms to reset their
'biological clocks because the
length of days change through
out the year.
“By having an inter-
'nal clock that is some-
'what flexible you can go to different locations
and have your clock synchronized with your en
vironment,” she said.
“Even staying in one location, you can
’have your clock synchronized appropriately at differ
fent times of the year.”
Currently, there are few treatments or methods tc
Icope with jet lag, but future research may bring travel
ers additional relief.
Science in Brief
Researchers find
rare cholesterol,
heart-attack link
DALLAS (AP) — People with high
evels of a little-known form of
‘bad” cholesterol are 70 percent
ore likely to have a heart attack
han those with lower concentra-
ions of this lipoprotein in their
lood, according to a study re
leased Monday.
The obscure cholesterol particle
— called lipoprotein(a) — is espe
cially insidious because it is diffi
cult for doctors to measure reliably
and because its levels have little to
do with the better-known form of
“bad” cholesterol, called LDL.
The elevated Lp(a) levels also
had little to do with more conven
tional heart disease risk factors:
smoking, high blood pressure and
poor diet. It also cannot be directly
linked to high cholesterol, or the
kind whose levels can be altered
through diet or drugs, said lead re
searcher Dr. John Danesh, of Ox
ford University, in England.
“This study suggests there is a
clear association between Lp(a)
and an increased risk of heart dis
ease,” said Danesh, who pointed
out that more than a decade worth
of research failed to link Lp(a) to in
creased risk of heart disease in the
general population.
The findings are published in Cir
culation Magazine.
Labs investigated
for discrimination
LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) —
Physicist Edward Telle'r isn’t sure
whether the nuclear weapons
labs he helped found have a spy
problem.
But the man known as the “Fa
ther of the H-Bomb” is sure that any
problems aren’t going to be fixed by
ousting the University of California
manager of the Los Alamos Na
tional Laboratory and Lawrence Liv
ermore National Laboratory.
He is reminded of the crisis of
1949 when scientists working on
the weapons program at Los Alam
os, N.M., learned that secrets of
the atomic bomb had been leaked
to the Soviets.
Today’s troubles in the weapons
program began last year with alle
gations that nuclear secrets had
leaked to China. Los Alamos sci
entist Wen Ho Lee was fired and lat
er charged with mishandling clas
sified information. Both Los
Alamos and Livermore are being in
vestigated for possible discrimina
tion against Asians,.
"Losing UC would be “a horrible
thing,” said Los Alamos scientist
Manvendra Dubey.
or more i
for
y'-
i Council
nfo.
ies
want!
100
>00
A national tradition since 1865
Alpha Tau Omega
National Fraternity
Do you have what it takes to wear our badge?
Alpha Tau Omega Rush 2000
Tuesday, Sept. 5
Dinner with A TQ
7-9 p.m. Wings 'N' More (across from campus)
Wednesday, Sept. 6
Disco Bowling
9:30-11:30 p.m. Triangle Bowl
Thursday, Sept. 7
Brotherhood Social+
7-9 p.m. Pebble Creek
Friday, Sept. 8
Cookout*
7 p.m. 8778 Smith Road
Invitation Only +Business Casual
www.ato.org