Plants could shed light on human body clocks

A STUDY into how plants adjust to having less sunlight in winter could lead to a better understanding of the impact of shift work and jet lag on people, writes Hilary Duncanson.

Scientists looking at the daily rhythms in plants have found a complex process that allows genes to respond to the times of dawn and dusk each day, and the length of daylight in between.

It enables the plant to reset its internal clock every day in response to seasonal changes in daylight, helping it to control the timing of crucial activities such as flowering and making frost-resistant buds.

The findings could shed light on how humans respond when daily rhythms are interrupted, perhaps by travel or unsociable working hours.

Professor Andrew Millar, who led the study at Edinburgh University, said: "Light input is absolutely crucial to understanding how the rhythms of most organisms work in daily life."