Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Metabolism

Tick, tock, a β-cell clock

Nature volume 466, pages 571–572 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

The daily light–dark cycle affects many aspects of normal physiology through the activity of circadian clocks. It emerges that the pancreas has a clock of its own, which responds to energy fluctuations.

The pancreas is a mosaic organ: its different cell types regulate sugar and fat metabolism through controlled production of digestive enzymes and hormones in response to food and physiological demand. To maintain normal blood glucose levels after a meal, for instance, β-cells in pancreatic islets produce insulin, which then stimulates glucose uptake and storage by the muscle and fat cells, and stops glucose production and secretion by the liver. It is increasingly being appreciated that circadian clocks — sets of genes through which organisms keep track of time — regulate these processes. But exactly how they function is not known. On page 627 of this issue, Marcheva et al.1 report that pancreatic islets have a circadian clock that regulates insulin secretion, and that disruption of this clock causes greatly increased blood glucose due to impaired insulin secretion, a hallmark of diabetes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Going by the local clock.

References

  1. Marcheva, B. et al. Nature 466, 627–631 (2010).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Stephan, F. K. & Zucker, I. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 69, 1583–1586 (1972).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Allada, R., Emery, P., Takahashi, J. S. & Rosbash, M. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 24, 1091–1119 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Plautz, J. D., Kaneko, M., Hall, J. C. & Kay, S. A. Science 278, 1632–1635 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yoo, S.-H. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 5339–5346 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Panda, S. et al. Cell 109, 307–320 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Stokkan, K.-A., Yamazaki, S., Tei, H., Sakaki, Y. & Menaker, M. Science 291, 490–493 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Damiola, F. et al. Genes Dev. 14, 2950–2961 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lamia, K. A. et al. Science 326, 437–440 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Storch, K.-F. et al. Cell 130, 730–741 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lamia, K. A., Storch, K.-F. & Weitz, C. J. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 15172–15177 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Katja A. Lamia is at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. klamia@scripps.edu ,

    Katja A. Lamia

  2. Ronald M. Evans is at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. evans@salk.edu ,

    Ronald M. Evans

Authors
  1. Katja A. Lamia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ronald M. Evans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lamia, K., Evans, R. Tick, tock, a β-cell clock. Nature 466, 571–572 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/466571a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/466571a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing