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That internal nagging feeling that drives you to seek sleep at night and wake in the morning to eat, work, and play, is, it turns out, genetic, and it's not just in people.
Shihoko Kojima poses, without a mask, outside Steger Hall s front entrance.
Shihoko Kojima. Photo by Steven Mackay.
That internal nagging feeling that drives you to seek sleep at night and wake in the morning to eat, work, and play, is, it turns out, genetic, and it’s not just in people. Nearly every living organism – from animals to plants as well as several microorganisms and fungi – has an internal body clock, or a circadian rhythm.
Yet, scientists have been perplexed out how these genes operate. Now, Virginia Tech scientists have taken a step closer to an answer thanks to the DNA of a mouse, a petri dish, and much patience. In a new study published in the journal Genes & Development, Shihoko Kojima, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, part of the Virginia Tech College of Science, and a researcher with the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, and her team has identified a novel gene,
Thirty years after scientists began mapping human genome, we’re all familiar with the idea that our genes account for many of our physical characteristics.
Now, scientists at Virginia Tech have identified a new kind of gene, that plays a powerful role in when we sleep and when we don’t.
The Kojima lab deciphers genetic codes of biological rhythms to understand how the molecular machinery controls circadian biochemistry, physiology and ultimately behavior. This research integrates neuroscience, molecular/cellular biology, genomics, bioinformatics and computational biology.
It’s actually a very different pair of genes than previously thought. Instead of the traditional explanation that genes determine our basic traits, Virginia Tech researchers found that it’s a kind of shadow gene that’s really running the show when it comes to sleep and wakefulness.