Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Rockefeller researchers discover a biological clock within a clock
Eurekalert ^ | 1/12/06 | Joseph Bonner

Posted on 01/13/2006 7:25:46 AM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo

Just as a pocket watch requires a complex system of gears and springs to keep it ticking precisely, individual cells have a network of proteins and genes that maintain their own internal clock -- a 24-hour rhythm that, in humans, regulates metabolism, cell division, and hormone production, as well as the wake-sleep cycle. Studying this "circadian" rhythm in fruit flies, which have genes that are similar to our own, scientists have constructed a basic model of how the cellular timekeeper works. But now, a new report in this week's issue of the journal Science turns the old model on its head: By providing a glimpse into living cells, Rockefeller University researchers have uncovered a previously undetected clock inside the circadian clock. The scientists made the finding with a rarely used technique called FRET, which enabled them to follow circadian proteins over an extended period of time and watch the clock as it ticks away in a living cell.

[snip]

The movie allowed them to follow the interactions between Period and Timeless with a resolution never before possible. They discovered that, rather than randomly colliding, the two proteins bind together in the cytoplasm almost immediately and create what Young and Meyer refer to as an "interval timer." Then, six hours after coming together, the complexes rapidly break apart and the proteins move into the nucleus singly, all of them within minutes of each other. "Some switch is thrown at six hours that lets the complex explode. The proteins pop apart and roll into the nucleus," Young says. "Somehow, implanted within the system is a timer, formed by Period and Timeless, that counts off six hours. You have a clock within a clock." He notes that this precise timer shows how carefully orchestrated interactions between proteins really are.

(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: creationisminadress; crevo; crevolist; goddooditamen; idtalltales; intelligentdesign
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 301-305 next last
This is interesting research.

Further reading:

Natural Theology; or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity / by William Paley

1 posted on 01/13/2006 7:25:48 AM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: wallcrawlr

Ping


2 posted on 01/13/2006 7:26:23 AM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo (The best theory is not ipso facto a good theory. Lots of links on my homepage...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry

ping


3 posted on 01/13/2006 7:28:49 AM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what and Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Michael_Michaelangelo

All molecular interactions within cells are interesting. The complexity, coordination, and beauty is awe inspiring.

If there is no God, then Nature does one hell of an imitation.


4 posted on 01/13/2006 7:29:20 AM PST by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: coconutt2000

The article concludes: Young and Meyer, who's now a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, have yet to figure out exactly how the timer works, but its discovery opens up the door to a whole new suite of questions. "How does this interval timer tick? Is it made from additional proteins? Is this the only such timer in the circadian clock? Each of these questions are ahead of us," Young says. "A couple of years ago, we had identified lots of genes and had this sweeping picture of how circadian clocks work. But this indicates that there are much more formidable properties of the system that were overlooked."

All I can say is how awesome and marvelous the Lord God is.


5 posted on 01/13/2006 7:31:13 AM PST by Elpasser
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Michael_Michaelangelo

FRET?

... So he turned to a technique invented in 1948, called fluorescence resonance energy transfer; FRET gauges interactions between proteins by fluorescently tagging them and measuring how they react to different wavelengths of light. But although the technique can provide useful information, it's so complicated that researchers rarely use it. And no one had ever thought to use it to follow proteins in a single cell for an extended period of time...


6 posted on 01/13/2006 7:34:32 AM PST by sully777 (Blame Canada!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dashing Dasher

Happy Birtday...


7 posted on 01/13/2006 7:35:22 AM PST by null and void (Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do. - Asimov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VadeRetro; Junior; longshadow; RadioAstronomer; Doctor Stochastic; js1138; Shryke; RightWhale; ...
Evolution Ping

The List-O-Links
A conservative, pro-evolution science list, now with over 340 names.
See the list's explanation, then FReepmail to be added or dropped.
To assist beginners: But it's "just a theory", Evo-Troll's Toolkit,
and How to argue against a scientific theory.

8 posted on 01/13/2006 7:36:58 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Michael_Michaelangelo

"Somehow, implanted within the system is a timer. . .that counts off six hours. . . .This precise timer shows how carefully orchestrated interactions between proteins really are.


It's a FESTIVUS Miracle!

It's amazing what random, non-intelligent, lack-of-design is capable of accomplishing.


9 posted on 01/13/2006 7:39:24 AM PST by will of the people
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Michael_Michaelangelo

Cool! I wonder who designed that?


10 posted on 01/13/2006 7:41:36 AM PST by IrishCatholic (No local communist or socialist party chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IrishCatholic

No one designed it. It just happened. There is no designer and no beginning. The evolutionists will explain it in greater detail. :)


11 posted on 01/13/2006 7:43:45 AM PST by mlc9852
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
Intelligent design would be simpler than the mess we actually have, really.
12 posted on 01/13/2006 7:44:44 AM PST by VadeRetro (Liberalism is a cancer on society. Creationism is a cancer on conservatism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Michael_Michaelangelo
They discovered that, rather than randomly colliding, the two proteins bind together in the cytoplasm almost immediately and create what Young and Meyer refer to as an "interval timer." Then, six hours after coming together, the complexes rapidly break apart and the proteins move into the nucleus singly, all of them within minutes of each other.

Why, I'll bet there's a team of tiny angels that push the proteins around just so.

13 posted on 01/13/2006 7:46:34 AM PST by Physicist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VadeRetro
Intelligent design would be simpler than the mess we actually have, really.

Much simpler. Any grade-school dropout could master the subject in a few moments. And many claim to have done so.

14 posted on 01/13/2006 7:48:11 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


15 posted on 01/13/2006 7:55:19 AM PST by Michael_Michaelangelo (The best theory is not ipso facto a good theory. Lots of links on my homepage...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
Yes. The Larsen cartoon on horse medicine comes to mind. Every condition was followed by the treatment: "Shoot."
16 posted on 01/13/2006 7:55:36 AM PST by VadeRetro (Liberalism is a cancer on society. Creationism is a cancer on conservatism.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: null and void

Thanks!

It's my birtday... you know!


17 posted on 01/13/2006 8:01:25 AM PST by Dashing Dasher (It's my birthday, I can b*tch if I want to!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: coconutt2000
If there is no God, then Nature does one hell of an imitation.

Not only is every living thing a miracle, every living cell is.
18 posted on 01/13/2006 8:08:18 AM PST by microgood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Dashing Dasher
Given your tagline de jour, I will probably refrain from making additional posts to you until next week.

Happy Birthday, Dasher!

19 posted on 01/13/2006 8:08:28 AM PST by L,TOWM (Liberals, The Other White Meat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Physicist

"Why, I'll bet there's a team of tiny angels that push the proteins around just so."

But can you prove it?


20 posted on 01/13/2006 8:12:25 AM PST by mlc9852
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 301-305 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson