Circadian rhythms and sleep articles within Nature

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  • Article |

    Synthetic REV-ERB agonists can alter the circadian expression of core clock genes in the hypothalami of mice, which changes the expression of metabolic genes in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and results in increased energy expenditure.

    • Laura A. Solt
    • , Yongjun Wang
    •  & Thomas P. Burris

  • News & Views |

    In mammals, molecular clocks regulate transcription and glucose homeostasis. One way they do so is by controlling glucocorticoid-receptor signalling, which suggests that clocks are embedded in liver metabolism. See Letter p.552

    • Joseph Bass

  • News & Views |

    A study in rats suggests that individual neurons take a nap when the brain is forced to stay awake, and that the basic unit of sleep is the electrical activity of single cortical neurons. See Article p.443

    • Christopher S. Colwell

  • Letter |

    Gene expression fluctuates in concert with the day/night cycle, and this results in differential behaviours throughout the day. These changes in expression have been studied at the transcriptional and post-translational levels. Here, another type of circadian-influenced regulation that occurs at the post-transcriptional level is defined. The twenty-four (TYF) protein associates with the mRNA of the clock protein PER, enhancing its translation.

    • Chunghun Lim
    • , Jongbin Lee
    •  & Joonho Choe

  • Letter |

    Place cells in the hippocampus track an animal's position as it travels through space. Previous work contends that sequential place cell maps are produced upon the initial navigation of a new area and subsequently consolidated at rest or during sleep. Here, place-cell firing patterns during rest or sleep are observed before a novel spatial experience, a phenomenon termed 'preplay'. These sequences were separate from the replay of pervious experience and suggest that internal dynamics during rest may organize cell assemblies to be ready for any novel encoding that may occur in the immediate future.

    • George Dragoi
    •  & Susumu Tonegawa

  • News Feature |

    Sleep researcher Sara Mednick has straddled the line between media darling and respected scientist. But why is there still a line at all?

    • Erik Vance

  • Letter |

    Circadian rhythms control many physiological functions. During periods of feeding, pancreatic islets secrete insulin to maintain glucose homeostasis — a rhythmic process that is disturbed in people with diabetes. These authors show that pancreatic islets contain their own clock: they have self-sustained circadian oscillations of CLOCK and BMAL1 genes and proteins, which are vital for the regulation of circadian rhythms. Without this clock, a cascade of cellular failure and pathology initiates the onset of diabetes mellitus.

    • Biliana Marcheva
    • , Kathryn Moynihan Ramsey
    •  & Joseph Bass

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