According to the research report, a gene controlled by biological clock will affect the weight gain of mammals through high-fat foods. The research report was led by Joseph C. Besharse of Wisconsin Medical College and Carla B.Green of University of Virginia, and their papers were published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Pisas and Green discovered this gene called nocturnal protein more than ten years ago, and the protein encoded by it exists in various body tissues (including liver) of mammals. Pisas and Green pointed out in their paper that when the nocturnal protein gene of the biological clock gene in mice is inactivated, they will not gain weight even if they are fed with high-fat food.

"We have evidence that the biological clock itself plays a normal role in mutant mice," Pisas said, "but many aspects of lipid and glucose metabolism are disordered."

The biological clock is the internal clock of the human body, which regulates organs, activities and rest periods by controlling the influence of energy, alertness, growth, mood and aging. Research in this field involves aging, jet lag, sleep disorders, shift work and dieting.

The researchers destroyed the nocturnal protein gene of a group of mice, and then fed some of them standard food, while others were fed high-fat food. After feeding normal mice with standard food, they are no different from normal mice in appearance and behavior. They look small and exquisite, running around on wheels and staying active at the same time of the day. Mice lacking the nocturnal protein gene gained only a little weight after being fed high-fat food. But when normal mice were fed high-fat food, their weight soared to twice that of mice lacking nocturnal protein gene. In addition, wild mice gathered a lot of fat around their livers, while mice lacking the protein gene at night did not.

"If you only focus on obesity, it is good for them not to have this gene," Pisas said, but "when fed a normal diet, mutant mice also changed their glucose metabolism. It is likely to be a nocturnal protein gene, which is produced in a variety of tissues (including liver, mast cells, pancreas and viscera) and has a multi-level impact on oil and glucose metabolism. " He added that this effect caused the pancreas to resist insulin secretion, and the function of insulin was to transport glucose in blood to a single cell and convert it into energy. People with low insulin secretion or secretion resistance are prone to type 2 diabetes.

Pisas said that his research team will continue to study the molecular mechanism of nocturnal protein gene, not only in the liver, but also in other body tissues that produce protein, such as eyes, brain and kidneys. Of course, we hope to find a drug to inhibit the activity of protein gene at night, so as to affect fat storage, but all this needs further study.