Mathematics Combines with Biology to Reveal Unexpected Biorhythms

According to one of the latest researches, it has been revealed that few of the animals have a very vigorous genetic activity of about 12 hours, along with the circadian or 24-hour cycles. The method with the help of which this finding was revealed, studied the periodicity of gene expression data and compared its results with those that were obtained with other computational methods.

This new method depicted not just the existence of unsuspected biological cycles, but also that the 12-hour cycles work independently from the 24-hour cycles. This has been confirmed by certain laboratory experiments also. This research has also proved to be helpful in studying and understanding of how gene functions over time influences health and disease. Circadian rhythms are defined as physical, mental and behavioural changes that follow a 24-hour cycle driven by environmental light and darkness. The most common example of circadian cycle is sleeping at night and being awake during the day. The biological rhythms show complex interactions at the molecular level. These take place along the paths mediating the expression of genes into active proteins and carrying functions in the cell. Alongside there are other biological cycles also that exist in addition to 24-hour rhythms. Some of the examples of biological cycles are blood pressure, body temperature, cognitive performance, some circulating hormones, reaction to stress and responses to drug therapy etc. These processes follow a 12-hour rhythm. Very less is known about the biological basis of this fact. Dacso and his colleagues are on the task of finding the answers to such questions. The team of researchers understood that they need to use an approach that is different from that approach which the other groups are following. Dasco contacted other colleagues at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University and they referred him to Dr. Athanasios Antoulas, a professor in that department who also is a fellow at the Max-Planck Society in Germany. Antoulas, was an engineer and mathematician with expertise in processing digital signals such as electronic waves. He generated a new mathematical tool named the matrix pencil method. This enabled him to discover frequencies from very noisy digital data. The researchers began using the Antoulas’s method in analysing electronic digital signals in order to further analyze a biological phenomenon, precisely such kind of gene expression data had been collected every hour for 36 hours. The researchers further analyzed more than 18,000 mouse liver genes that were involved in a variety of cellular processes, including metabolism, cell stress, cell cycle and cellular respiration. The method brought forth the fundamental cycles that exist in data set collected for each gene. The researchers confirmed the 24-hour circadian cycles and uncovered genes. The expression of these genes followed a 12-hour cycle that was not evident when using other computational methods. The co-author Dr. Bert O'Malley, chancellor and professor of molecular and cellular biology and Thomas C. Thompson Chair in Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine stated that the research has shown that disturbing the 24-hour clocks may lead to diseases of metabolism. The research concludes that it’s not a good idea to disturb the circadian rhythm on a regular basis. It is anticipated that disturbing the other cycles may also affect health and disease.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180920115521.htm