Disruption of daily rhythms in gene expression: The importance of being synchronised

Extending a normal 24 hours day by four hours is unexpectedly highly disruptive to daily rhythms in gene expression in the blood. Using a paradigm in which human subjects were exposed to a 28 hours day, Archer and colleagues show how this sleep-altering forced desynchrony protocol caused complex disruption to daily rhythms in distinct groups of genes. Such perturbations in the temporal organisation of the blood transcriptome arise quickly, and point to the fragile nature of coordinated genomic activity. Chronic disruption of the daily and circadian rhythms in sleep compromise health and well-being and this study reveals potential new molecular targets to combat the disruptive effects of shift work and jetlag.