The human body has an internal biological clock that is constantly running. Our well-being is dependent on the function of that clock. New research found a little stress can make the circadian clock run better and faster.
Research in the past several decades has found that our body has evolved a set of machinery, called the circadian clock, that internally drives rhythms in almost every cell. The activities of the circadian clock are influenced by various signals in the cells.
In a recent study published in Neuron, a team of seven laboratories in the U.S. and Canada focused on the crosstalk between cellular stress signals and the circadian clock.
Cells respond to various stress signals by activating a signal transduction cascade that is centered on the protein eIF2α, which is a pivotal factor that orchestrates protein synthesis in cells. The team found that in one's central brain clock, stress leads to rhythmic phosphorylation of eIF2α, which promotes production of the ATF4 protein. The ATF4 protein activates the Per2 gene, which ultimately makes the clock tick faster. They concluded that this mechanism is necessary to maintain a robust clock, and therefore, that stress signals influence the speed and robustness of the circadian clock.
It has been known that the circadian clock gets broken in many diseases, but the reason for it has been unclear. The finding may provide insight into this unanswered question, as it is the first connection between two fundamental processes in cells: stress response and circadian timekeeping. One explanation could be that stress responses frequently go awry in diseased conditions, which may, in turn, mess up the clock.
"The next step is a more thorough and larger scale study on the crosstalk between the cellular stress network and the circadian clock," said the author. "Hopefully our work can lead to discovering medicine that can manage the stress level and regulate the clock function in disease to keep people healthier."
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(19)30691-9
Link between stress and circadian clock health
- 1,305 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Abusive drugs hijack natura…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Mechanism of action of the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Role of fat in rare neurolo…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
How protein synthesis in de…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Atlas of mRNA variants in d…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Apr
Other Top Stories
High-Throughput Assay for Malaria Transmission
Read more
microRNA Function During Virus Infection
Read more
A New Trick for Artificial Photosynthesis
Read more
Mechanism of fungal killing!
Read more
Tissue-specific protein profiles in sepsis
Read more
Protocols
A programmable targeted pro…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
MemPrep, a new technology f…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
A tangible method to assess…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Apr
Stem cell-derived vessels-o…
By newseditor
Posted 06 Apr
Single-cell biclustering fo…
By newseditor
Posted 01 Apr
Publications
Exploiting pancreatic cance…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Structure of antiviral drug…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Type-I-interferon-responsiv…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Selenium, diabetes, and the…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Long-term neuropsychologica…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Apr
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar