Inner clock may lead monarch butterflies home
MEXICO CITY (AP) - January 9, 2008 The study, published online Tuesday in the PLoS Biology Journal
and the Public Library of Science, found that the butterflies'
biological clocks help them use the sun as a compass.
Dr. Steven Reppert, the University of Massachusetts
neurobiologist who led the study's seven-member research team, said
monarch butterflies have unique circadian clocks, which regulate
daily activities like sleep and hunger.
The researchers genetically mapped the molecular underpinings of
the butterflies' circadian clocks and found cryptochrome proteins
common in both insects and mammals. Reppert believes these proteins
enable the monarchs to navigate using the sun's position in the
sky.
"A butterfly's brain is no bigger than the head of a pin, and
yet it has this incredible capability. So we really want to
understand that," Reppert said.
When understood completely, the find might help shed light on
the biological clocks of humans, and in turn aid research into
everything from sleep disorders to depression.
Lincoln Brower, a monarch expert at the University of Florida
and Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, said the
discovery was significant because it shows that "studying the
monarch butterfly is producing crucial information about the nature
of life."
The research was funded in part by grants from the National
Institutes of Health and the Czech Republic's Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports.
-----
On the Net:
http://biology.plosjournals.org