City scientists in body clock breakthrough

the mechanism that controls the internal 24-hour clock of all forms of life has been identified by scientists.

Not only does the research provide important insight into health-related problems linked to individuals with disrupted body clocks, it also indicates that the 24-hour circadian clock found in human cells is the same as that found in algae and dates back millions of years.

Two new studies from the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge give insight into the circadian clock, which controls patterns of daily and seasonal activity, from sleep cycles to butterfly migrations.

Professor Andrew Millar of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led one of the studies, said: "This groundbreaking research shows that body clocks are ancient mechanisms that have stayed with us through a billion years of evolution.

"They must be far more important and sophisticated than we previously realised.

"More work is needed to determine how and why these clocks developed in people - and most likely all other living things on earth - and what role they play in controlling our bodies."