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News

Glowing fish aids biology research

Fish helps study on biological clocks, genetic disorders

By Matt Cooper
Senior Staff Writer

A glowing fish is leading the way to biological clock research in UH's Department of Biology and Biochemistry.

Gregory Cahill, associate professor of biology and biochemistry, said the glowing zebrafish might yield new information on biological clocks that may be applied to humans.

Cahill and Maki Kaneko, a former UH researcher now at the University of California at San Diego, published their findings Feb. 1 in the Public Library of Science's online journal, PLoS Biology.

To study biological clocks -- the common name for circadian rhythms, which regulate metabolism, physiology and behavior -- the researchers injected the zebrafish with a gene commonly found in fireflies.

The result was that the zebrafish glowed at specific times, usually more during the day than at night.

"(The glow) is very dim," Cahill said. "You actually can't see it with the naked eye."

He said researchers use a luminometer, a scientific instrument that detects light, to tell when the fish were glowing.

And because zebrafish reproduce very quickly, the researchers can study thousands of them at once.

"Because we can test so many zebrafish at a time, the one-in-a-thousand-chance odds of finding a mutant are more easily and efficiently attainable," Cahill said in a release.

Mutant fish's genes can be examined to discover what caused the anomaly, and Cahill said that kind of research may help researchers understand why humans develop sleep disorders or mental illnesses like depression. 

"We're going to be able to use this (research) for a long time," Cahill said.

For more information on the UH Biological Clocks Program, visit www.bchs.uh.edu/research_clocks.htm.
 

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