See this at: sflorg.com| Added on 01/11/07

Mice tend to do most of their scampering about at night, resting up during the day for the evening's activity. But fiddle with a single gene, and suddenly the animals are much livelier during daylight hours. The shift in activity in these genetically... See more

Mice tend to do most of their scampering about at night, resting up during the day for the evening's activity. But fiddle with a single gene, and suddenly the animals are much livelier during daylight hours. The shift in activity in these genetically engineered mice turns out to be more than a mere nuisance to the animals' slumbering cage mates - it's helping scientists illuminate the fundamentals of biological clocks, as well as a circadian rhythm disorder that affects a small number of humans. People with familial advanced sleep-phase syndrome (FASPS) tend to become sleepy and wake up earlier than most. They are often ready for bed around 7:30 in the evening, and ready to begin their day at 4:30 in the morning. People with FASPS—a disorder caused by alterations in a single gene—also have a shorter circadian period than those without the altered gene. Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have now demonstrated that mutating the same gene in mice has the same effects. A mouse... See less