Researchers Discover Sleep Cycle Gene

Jan. 11, 2001-- If you suffer from erratic sleep patterns, waking up in the wee hours of the morning - it may be a single gene passed on in your family.

Utah scientists have made a landmark discovery, finding a dominant gene which tampers with our biological wake-sleep cycle.

The story from Science Specialist Ed Yeates.

More Info The research is published online in the journal Science. Details of Gene Discovery Howard Hughes Medical Institute Past Related Stories Gene Is Responsible For Sleep Patterns KSL.Com, Aug. 2000 Researchers Discover Heritable Sleep Disorder Howard Hughes Medical Institute Stanford Researchers Nab Gene For Narcolepsy Links National Sleep Foundation Sleep tips, disorders, studies, etc.

Sixty-one-year-old Roger Davis starts feeling sleepy every night at seven, but wakes up at two in the morning.

That's because his biological clock which controls the sleep/wake cycle is moving faster than normal. It's even more dramatic during summer months and daylight saving time.

ROGER DAVIS: "IT'S A NIGHTMARE FOR ME. WHEN I REMODELED MY HOME, I CLOSED OUT THE WINDOWS ON THE WEST SIDE OF MY HOUSE BECAUSE IN THE SUMMER TIME I STILL GO TO BED AT SEVEN, SEVEN-THIRTY, EIGHT O'CLOCK."

Roger and others like him have long thought their erratic sleeping behavior was a lifestyle problem.

But University of Utah genetic researchers have now discovered a dominant gene which sets up a biochemical mechanism that makes the body clock run faster - a condition called Familial Advanced Sleep-Phase Syndrome.

LOUIS PTACEK, M.D., ECCLES INSTITUTE OF HUMAN GENETICS: "ONE INDIVIDUAL IN THE LARGE FAMILY THAT WE FIRST CHARACTERIZED ACTUALLY WENT INTO AN ISOLATION APARTMENT FOR THREE WEEKS AND WE SHOWED THAT HER CLOCK WAS TICKING ON A 23-HOUR DAY."

The discovery could change a lot of opinions about why people sleep the way they do. Chemical variations in the gene could influence a lot of different sleeping patterns including those which affect one third of the elderly.

It could explain why some have a harder time dealing with jet lag - or working graveyard shifts.

The gene may now give school boards a more valid reason to start classes later in the day to accomodate sleepyheaded teenagers.

"WE DID FIND NORMAL VARIATIONS IN THIS GENE THAT OCCUR IN A LOT OF PEOPLE - THE DNA'S THAT WE LOOKED AT."

ED YEATES, SCIENCE SPECIALIST: "THE DISCOVERY NOW NOT ONLY ISOLATES A BIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS FOR SLEEP BEHAVIORS - BUT OPENS A DOOR FOR POSSIBLE TREATMENT - NOT A SLEEPING PILL - BUT AN ACTUAL GENETIC DRUG WHICH COULD RESET THE BODY CLOCK SO IT RUNS AT THE RIGHT TIME."