Scheduled feeding alters the timing of the suprachiasmatic nucleus circadian clock in Dexras1-deficient mice
Food and the rhythms of life. To most of us this is just our daily routine, but to PhD student Pascale Bouchard-Cannon (Cheng Lab) this is cutting-edge research. Pascale recently published a paper in Chronobiology International. In this paper, she examines the role of the Ras-like G protein, Dexras1, in regulating circadian rhythms of mice under conditions of restricted food availability. She finds that loss of Dexras1 expression in knockout mice sensitizes the SCN clock, the master circadian pacemaker, to the effects of restricted feeding, leading to greatly perturbed SCN-driven rhythms in the mutant animals. This work marks the identification of the first gene that is shown to be essential for buffering the SCN against the effects of restricted feeding.
Great work, Pascale!