US geneticists Jeffrey C. Hall , Michael Rosbash and Michael W . Young were awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize Monday for shedding light on the internal biological clock that governs the wake - sleep cycles of most living things .
“ Their discoveries explain how plants , animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth’ s revolutions , ” the Nobel Assembly announced .
Life on Earth is adapted to the rotation of our planet . For many years , scientists have known that living organisms, including humans , have an internal clock that help them anticipate and adapt to the rhythm of the day .
Hall , 72 , Rosbash, 73 , and Young , 68 , “ were able to peek inside our biological clock and elucidate its inner workings, ” said the NobelAssembly .
The clock influences such biological functions as hormone levels , sleep, body temperature and metabolism .
It is what causes jetlag — when our internal clock and external environment move out of sync when we change time zones .
Using the fruit fly as a model organism , this year ’ s laureates isolated a gene that controls the daily biological rhythm .
“ They showed that this gene encodes a protein that accumulates in the cell during the night and is then degraded during the day , ” the Nobel team said .
“ Subsequently they identified additional protein components of this machinery , exposing the mechanism governing the self - sustaining clockwork inside the cell . ”
The trio will share the prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor ( about $ 1 . 1 million or 937 , 000 euros ) .
Last year , Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan won the prestigious prize for his work on autophagy — a process whereby cells “ eat themselves ” , which when disrupted can cause Parkinson’ s and diabetes .
SOURCE: http://punchng.com/breaking-us-trio-wins-nobel-medicine-prize/