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Fly Cells Divide by the Clock
Circadian rhythms may influence the timing of cell division, which could inform the timing
of some therapies. Christopher Intagliata reports
Day and night existed long before the first primitive cells came into being. And that
light/dark cycle left its mark on nearly every living thing. Microbes, plants, insects,
mammals—we all experience circadian rhythms, due to molecular clocks in our cells. But
that internal timer affects more than just bedtime. The body's cells may actually divide by
the clock too—in fruit flies, at least.
Researchers gave fruit flies a form of inflammatory bowel disease. In response, the flies'
intestinalstem cells got busy repairing the gut, most of them dividing in sync around
dawn. But when researchers blocked the action of two clock genes in the intestine, the
flies couldn't patch up the damage. Instead of a coordinated repair, the cells stalled in
various stages of division, indicating that the internal clock plays a role in healing, too.
Those results appear in the journal Cell Reports. [Phillip Karpowicz et al., The Circadian
Clock Gates the Intestinal Stem Cell Regenerative State]
The researchers say the circadian clock might inform healing in us too, since it's such an
ancient trait. If so, they say doctors might want to time surgeries or chemotherapy for
when the body is primed to heal, helping patients clock a faster recovery.
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.