Made In China l QI l Oriental Express l Chinese Whispers l Resource Vantage Point l Critiques l Research l WellBeing Forum l Stories Vantage Point Pages 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 In recent years, researchers have uncovered the biological clocks' equivalent of a real clock's springs and gears. Scientists have found that interconnected molecules and genes nestled inside specific body cells come on and off with a roughly 24 hour cadence. Now that the clock itself is known, scientists are trying to figure out how these clocks drive body functions. Since genes make up a cell's operating instructions, Dr. Weitz and his colleagues suspected that the clock controls body functions by turning certain genes on and off at particular times. Working with the liver and heart tissue from lab mice, the scientists surveyed about 12,000 genes (roughly a third of all the genes present in mice) at different times of day. Each tissue had about 5000 active genes, and about a tenth of those were becoming less or more active at certain times of day. That means a large proportion of genes is specifically devoted to the rhythmic activities of each organ, Dr Weitz said. Contact Michael | © AustralianAcupuncture.com 2002 I About AustralianAcupuncture.com

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