Green Fluorescent Protein Biosensors Used to Detect Temperature in Thermal Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the one of the requirements to life. This property is occurring continuously in all living things. Specifically in warm blood animals, thermal homeostasis regulates body temperature. Scientists are interested in the measuring the heat generated from metabolic processes. However, it was not possible to measure the heat generated until researchers created a recombinant fusion protein. This kind of protein was created through genetic engineering a fusion gene, combining TIpA (a protein found in Salmonella) and Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). TIpA can detect heat changes and attach to the region in the cell while GFP emits green fluorescence. By taking advantage of TIpA's behavior under different temperatures and GFP's ability to fluoresce, the researchers were able to differentiate between hot and cooler temperatures within the cell. According to Principal researcher Yasuo Mori, the next step of the research is to apply it to living model organisms.

Mechanism of TIpA in Hold and Cold Temperatures

Homeostasis is one of the fundamental processes that a living thing undergoes. To understand this process more can help human beings understand the building blocks on life. Sure, this study is only looking for temperature changes, however, I believe that with genetic engineering, other proteins can be developed to track other elements of homeostasis. By further understanding this  process, benefits could be seen to help people who have trouble regulating parts of homeostasis. One must also take into consideration that this is a very early study. But nonetheless, it has the potential to detail the steps taken within homeostasis and help scientists further understand this complex process.  

Sleepy Genes

Sleep. We all do it. We all need it. As college students, we learn very quickly that sleep is of the essence, when we can get it. But is it really?

 

A study has recently been published in ScienceDaily contributing to this very question. Researchers from Rockefeller University have identified a new gene called insomniac that seems to have a correlation with regulatory sleeping habits in a new, methodical way than we have previously known. Mutations in this insomniac gene were first seen in the laboratory using infrared beams to detect when the flies fell to sleep. This gene caused a significant decrease in the amount of sleep that flies averagely displayed. It also seemed to affect to periods of time they were about to stay asleep, making the number of times they wake up more frequent and disturbed. Lastly, and most interestingly, this newly founded gene seems to be a process not of the well-known circadian cycle, but of bodily homeostatic mechanisms. The main difference being that usual sleep-involved processes occur through the circadian cycle, which regulates sleeping between day and night. Homeostatic mechanisms occur at every hour since their job consists mainly on keeping the body at a healthy balance.

 

However, now to their next discovery, which makes one stop and contemplate just how important sleep is to organisms. At first in their study, they discovered that the insomniac gene decreased the fruit flies’ lifespan by approximately two-thirds. This, you’d figure would be a result of the lack of peaceful, undisturbed sleep that this gene inflicts upon them. However, when removing the insomniac gene from the neurons of the flies, this proved differently. The poor sleep they were able to get still remained, but the lifespan went back to its original length. This breakthrough suggests that sleep may not have to affect the lifespan of an individual. Thus, whichever professors and parents and advisors say we aren’t getting enough sleep may actually be wrong after all. With this knowledge, sleep may possibly not affect overall health at all. We may not be fruit flies, but every animal sleeps, so how far off could the mark really be?