Many microorganisms can sense whether it’s day or night and adjust their activity accordingly. In tiny blue-green algae, the "quartz-crystal" of the time-keeping circadian clock consists of only three proteins, making it the simplest clock found in nature. Researchers led by Carl Johnson of Vanderbilt University recently found that, by manipulating these clock proteins, they could lock the algae into continuously expressing its daytime genes, even during the nighttime. Why would one want algae to act like it’s always daytime? The kind used in Johnson’s study is widely harnessed to produce commercial products, from drugs to biofuels. But even when grown in constant light, algae with a normal circadian clock typically decrease production of biomolecules when nighttime genes are expressed. When the researchers grew the algae with the daytime genes locked “on” in constant light, the microorganism’s output increased by as much as 700 percent. This proof of concept experiment may be applicable to improving the commercial production of compounds such as insulin and some anti-cancer drugs. Learn more: Vanderbilt University Press Release Johnson Laboratory Circadian Rhythms Fact Sheet

Our biological clocks play a large part in influencing our sleep patterns, hormone levels, body temperature and appetite. A small molecule called VIP, shown in green, enables time-keeping neurons in the brain’s central clock to coordinate daily rhythms. New research shows that, at least in mice, higher doses of the molecule can cause neurons to get out of synch. By desynchronizing mouse neurons with an extra burst of VIP, Erik Herzog of Washington University in St. Louis found that the cells could better adapt to abrupt changes in light (day)-dark (night) cycles. The finding could one day lead to a method to reduce jet lag recovery times and help shift workers better adjust to schedule changes. Learn more: Washington University in St. Louis News Release Circadian Rhythms Fact Sheet Tick Tock: New Clues About Biological Clocks and Health Article from Inside Life Science A Light on Life's Rhythms Article from Findings Magazine

The identities of the proteins that drive insulin production and release from pancreatic beta cells have largely been a mystery. In new work from the lab of William Balch of the Scripps Research Institute, researchers isolated and then identified all the insulin-bound proteins from mouse beta cells. The results provided a roadmap of the protein interactions that lead to insulin production, storage and secretion. The researchers used the roadmap to identify a protein called TMEM24, which was abundant in beta cells and binds readily to insulin. Balch and his team uncovered that TMEM24, whose involvement in insulin secretion was previously unknown, effectively regulates slower insulin release and could have a key role in maintaining control of glucose levels in the blood. The scientists hope that this roadmap of insulin-interacting proteins will lead to the development of new, targeted approaches to treating type 2 diabetes and a similar insulin-related condition called metabolic syndrome. Learn more: The Scripps Research Institute News Release Balch Lab

A new study from Peter Devreotes , Pablo Iglesias and other scientists at Johns Hopkins University sheds light on the way in which cells get around the body to promote embryo development, wound healing and even cancer metastasis. Here’s how they describe cell movement and their findings: Think of the cell as a rowboat. Sensor proteins on the outside pass on directional signals to messenger proteins that serve as the cell’s coxswain. The coxswain then commands other members of the molecular crew to stay in sync, propelling the cell forward. If there are no sensor signals, the coxswain can still coordinate the cell’s movement, just not in any specific direction—it’s like a boat without a rudder. Scientists previously thought that the messenger proteins needed the sensor ones to produce both directional and random movements. Because defects in the messenger proteins have been linked to many types of cancer, the new work suggests these molecules could serve as a drug target for immobilizing tumor cells. Learn more: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine News Release

These eye-catching images and the NIGMS-funded research that yielded them were recently featured by NIH Director Francis Collins on his blog. Scientists led by a team at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research engineered yeast to produce too much of a protein, alpha synuclein. In Parkinson’s disease, elevated levels or mutated forms of this protein wreak havoc on the cell. Using the model system, the researchers tested tens of thousands of compounds to identify any that reversed the toxic effects. One did. The compound, abbreviated NAB, worked similarly in an animal model and in rat neurons grown in a lab dish. Collins described the approach as “an innovative strategy for drug hunting that will likely be extended to other conditions.”

Whether injured by a scrape, minor burn or knife wound, skin goes through the same steps to heal itself. Regrowing hair over new skin is one of the final steps. All the hair you can see on your body is non-living, made up of “dead” cells and protein. It sprouts from living cells in the skin called hair follicle stem cells, shown here in red and orange. For more pictures of hair follicle stem cells—and many other stunning scientific images and videos—go to the NIGMS Image and Video Gallery. Learn more: Rockefeller University News Release Steller Lab

Flu viruses evolve rapidly, often staying one step ahead of efforts to vaccinate against infections or treat them with antiviral drugs. Work led by Jesse Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has uncovered a surprising new flu mutation that allows influenza to infect cells in a novel way. Normally, a protein called hemagglutinin lets flu viruses attach to cells, and a protein called neuraminidase lets newly formed viruses escape from infected cells. Bloom’s lab has characterized a mutant flu virus where neuraminidase can enable the virus to attach to host cells even when hemagglutinin’s binding is blocked. Although the researchers generated the neuraminidase mutant studied in these experiments in their lab, the same mutation occurs naturally in strains from several recent flu outbreaks. There’s a possibility that flu viruses with such mutations may be able to escape antibodies that block the binding of hemagglutinin. This work also was funded by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Learn more: Bloom Lab

Sequencing the genomes of almost 7,000 organisms has identified more than 40 million proteins. But how do we figure out what all these proteins do? New results from an initiative led by John Gerlt of the University of Illinois suggest a possible method for identifying the functions of unknown enzymes, proteins that speed chemical reactions within cells. Using high-powered computing, the research team modeled how the structure of a mystery bacterial enzyme, HpbD, might fit like a puzzle piece into thousands of proteins in known metabolic pathways. Since an enzyme acts on other molecules, finding its target or substrate can shed light on its function. The new method narrowed HpbD’s candidate substrate down from more than 87,000 to only four. Follow-up lab work led to the actual substrate, tHypB, and determined the enzyme’s biological role. This combination of computational and experimental methods shows promise for uncovering the functions of many more proteins. Learn more: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign News Release Gerlt Lab Enzyme Function Initiative

Chromosome segregation during cell division is like speed dating, according to Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth researcher Duane Compton. He and postdoctoral fellow Lilian Kabeche learned that protein cyclin A plays moderator, helping to properly separate chromosomes via the attachment of microtubule fibers to kinetochore structures. Here’s how Compton described the process: “The chromosomes are testing the microtubules for compatibility—that is, looking for the right match—to make sure there are correct attachments and no errors. The old view of this process held that chromosomes and microtubules pair up individually to find the correct attachment, like conventional dating. However, our results show that the system is more like speed dating. All the chromosomes have to try many connections with microtubules in a short amount of time. Then they all make their final choices at the same time. Cyclin A acts like a timekeeper or referee to make sure no one makes bad connections prematurely.” Such bad connections can cause chromosome segregation errors that lead to cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes, a hallmark of cancer cells. So in addition to aiding our understanding of a fundamental biological process, the new insights may point to potential ways to correct such errors. Learn more: Dartmouth News Release Compton Lab

Every October, a few scientists receive a call from Sweden that changes their lives. From that day forward, they will be known as Nobel laureates. This year, five of the new Nobelists have received funding from NIGMS.

In physiology or medicine, NIGMS grantees James Rothman (Yale University) and Randy Schekman (University of California, Berkeley) were honored “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.” They share the prize with Thomas C. Südhof of Stanford University.

Rothman and Schekman started out working separately and in different systems—Schekman in yeast and Rothman in reconstituted mammalian cells—and their conclusions validated each others’. It’s yet another example of the power of investigator-initiated research and the value of model systems.

The three Nobelists in chemistry are NIGMS grantees Martin Karplus (Harvard University), Michael Levitt (Stanford University) and Arieh Warshel (University of Southern California), who developed “multiscale models for complex chemical systems.” They used computational techniques to obtain, for the first time, detailed structural information about proteins and other large molecules. Because of that work, scientists around the world are now able to access, with a few keystrokes, highly accurate models of nearly 100,000 molecular structures. Studying these structures has advanced our understanding of countless diseases, pharmaceuticals and basic biological processes.

Learn more:

NIGMS Nobel Prize News Announcement
NIGMS Nobelists Fact Sheet