Researchers identify a new gene that is critical for daily behavioral rhythms

Ravi Allada, the Edgar C. Stuntz Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience and chair of the neurobiology department at Northwestern, has identified a new gene, called Tango10, that is critical for daily behavioral rhythms. Allada also is associate director of Northwestern’s Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology.

Life is organized on a 24-hour schedule, and central to this regular rhythm is the circadian clock, which is the timekeeper present in virtually every organ, tissue, and cell type. Allada’s discovery could help in understanding how this clock is linked to daily cycles.

“We wanted to better understand the molecular underpinnings of the daily ‘wake-up signal,’ which alerts an animal it’s time to awake,” he said. “In this study, we focused on pacemaker neurons that control the sleep-wake cycle and used genetic screening to identify genes that regulate the neurons.”

Allada and a team of researchers screened a number of genes they thought could be important for the circadian clock’s operation and behavior of a fly. Through this process, they discovered the gene called Tango10. This gene is involved in a molecular pathway by which the core circadian clock (the “gears”) controls the cellular output of the clock (the “hands”) to control daily sleep-wake cycles.

When Allada knocked out this gene, the fly lost its normal 24-hour rhythm of behavior. Certain potassium currents were reduced and likely resulted in hyperactive neurons and contributed to a loss of regular rhythm.

“Our findings fill a molecular gap in our understanding of how the core gears of the clock control the hands,” Allada said.

Read more about the study in Northwestern Now.