S6.21: Time of your life: how circadian rhythms shape the world
Hello and welcome to Genetics Unzipped - the Genetics Society podcast, with me, Dr Sally Le Page. In this episode we’re having the time of our lives and clocking in to chat about the genetics of circadian rhythms.
Today’s episode is actually inspired by an email we received from one of our listeners, Steve Zhinik who wrote to us to say:
“I am almost through the Genetics Unzipped back catalogue and I don't think you've had a programme on the clock genes. These rank as my "most amazing genes", and I am wondering if you and your staff would consider this (wildly complex) topic for a show.”
With over 60 hours of content in our back catalogue, listening to them all is quite the achievement! And if Steve thinks clock genes are the most amazing genes, we thought we’d better check them out.
Image courtesy of Priya Crosby
Priya Crosby: Tick tock - how can genes tell the time?
To start us off, I sat down with Dr Priya Crosby who is a molecular biologist at UC Santa Cruz. She’s interested in how circadian rhythms work at the cellular level, and how molecules can tell the time. But before we go any further, what exactly are circadian rhythms?
Click here to read the full transcript…
Carrie Partch: Stop the clocks - when circadian genes go wrong
Small genetic differences can explain why some people are able to get up and go out for a run, meditate and cook a full breakfast before I’ve even woken up in the morning. Meanwhile I’m wired all the way up til midnight when everyone else has gone to bed.
But some people have genetic disorders that cause much bigger shifts in their circadian rhythms. One researcher who is looking into these is Professor Carrie Partch, a biophysicist at UC Santa Cruz, so I asked her how you go about studying these clock genes in cells.
Click here to read the full transcript…
Image courtesy of Carrie Partch
Image courtesy of Antony Dodd
Antony Dodd: Manipulating malaria by changing the clocks
Speaking of food security and climate change, in our Bread and Fishes episode at the end of last year we spoke with Dr Hannah Rees about how circadian rhythms affect wheat crops, and how she’s effectively giving wheat jet lag to create a more future-proof plant.
Now we all know about the molecular biology of circadian rhythms, I want to continue the conversation about how we can influence these daily cycles to improve our lives. Professor Antony Dodd is a plant scientist at the John Innes Centre who is interested in clock genes not only in humans and mammals, but across the tree of life, from plants to fungi to bacteria.
One of the organisms Antony has been studying is one you might not think of when it comes to day and night cycles, but it turns out understanding its circadian rhythms may help us save millions of human lives. And that’s because the organism in question is Plasmodium falciparum, otherwise known as malaria.
Click here to read the full transcript…
Coming up from the Genetics Society!
The deadline for the final Training Grant of the year is fast approaching. Members can get up to £1,200 to attend training courses or for a visit to another lab to train in a specific genetic technique. You need to apply before midnight on 15th November, and there’s more details at genetics.org.uk.
The Genetics Society is also hosting an event about the genetics of future food production and the Green Revolution 2.0 starting on the 7th November and there’s still time to sign up to attend virtually. Professor Dame Caroline Dean, who Kat spoke to earlier this season, will be giving her award lecture, and there will be discussions about how plant sciences can help grow food in the face of climate change, pressures on land use and reducing soil quality. There’s more information on the Genetics Society’s website.
Nice Genes!
We always like to let you know about other podcasts similar to ours that you might like, and today we want to highlight Nice Genes, which is a podcast from Genome BC hosted by Dr Kaylee Byers. This series they’re focussing on shattering assumptions, whether that’s myths about same-sex behaviour in nature and the genetics of sexuality, or the assumption that body fat isn’t healthy and the role of epigenetics on obesity.
And it just so happens that their next episode is all about, you guessed it, circadian rhythms and sleep! So if you’re enjoying what we’ve been chatting about so far and you want to find out about the two genes underpinning our ability to sleep and the link between circadian rhythms and ADHD, go and check out the Nice Genes podcast, available on all the usual podcast platforms.
We’ll be back next time when I’ll be chatting with author and science journalist Rebecca Coffey about some amazing adaptations and Darwinian delights.
For more information about this podcast including show notes, transcripts, links, references and everything else head over to geneticsunzipped.com You can find us for now on Twitter or X or whatever it’s called when this episode goes live @geneticsunzip and please do take a moment to leave us a rating in the Spotify app or review us on Apple podcasts - it really makes a difference and helps more people discover the show.
This episode of Genetics Unzipped was written, presented and produced by Sally Le Page. It’s a First Create the Media production for The Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies dedicated to promoting research, training, teaching and public engagement in all areas of genetics. You can find out more and apply to join at genetics.org.uk. The executive producer is Kat Arney, our theme music was composed by Dan Pollard, the logo was designed by James Mayall, and audio production was by Emma Werner. Thanks for listening, and until next time, goodbye.
