Take a good look at this cover for the 28 Feb. issue of noted science journal Cell. If you can tell me what this image means without reading the article then I’ll give you a shiny nickel!*

We see two young women wearing kimonos each with a hand on the minute hand of a giant clock. There are various letters and numbers printed on them, but what does it all mean?

The cover design is based on an article submitted by a research team from Tokyo University titled: FBXL21 Regulates Oscillation of the Circadian Clock through Ubiquitination and Stabilization of Cryptochromes.

Don’t worry, there’s simple summary to explain what that means.

“In the mammalian circadian clockwork, CRY1 and CRY2 repressor proteins are regulated by posttranslational modifications for temporally coordinated transcription of clock genes. Previous studies revealed that FBXL3, an F-box-type E3 ligase, ubiquitinates CRYs and mediates their degradation. Here, we found that FBXL21 also ubiquitinates CRYs but counteracts FBXL3. Surprisingly, FBXL21 stabilized CRYs and antagonized the destabilizing action by FBXL3.”

In English, that means our bodies have a type of built-in clock that runs on a 24-hour cycle conveniently matching one rotation of the Earth. This helps our bodies perform the best inner processes for what it expects us to be routinely doing (sleeping, working, etc).

This clock (often called a “circadian clock”) is managed by proteins called CRY. Two enzymes called FBXL21 and FBXL3 interact with the CRY proteins. These two enzymes are different in their structure and location of a protein called ubiquitin (Ub).

FBXL3 breaks down the CRY which moves our body’s sense of time forward. On the other hand, the FBXL21 preserves CRY and slows down its degradation caused by FBXL3. While FBXL3 drives the clock forward FBXL21 provides a little resistance. As a result this stabilizes our inner clock to a constant 24 hours.

Okay. Now you can look at the picture again.

The research is hoped to lead to treatments of disorders and diseases caused by abnormal body clocks.

Cell has used various talented people to design their covers over the years. This one was done by Yuki Takahashi. Another cover designed by a Japanese person was from the 7 Sept. 2007 issue done by the creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hirohiko Araki.

I would explain what this one means, but I’m suddenly very sleepy. For some reason reading scientific journals makes me really drowsy. Something must be wrong with my CRY proteins.

Source: Cell (English) via IT Media (Japanese)
Top Image: University of Tokyo

*Note: Payment of the shiny nickel will only be made when the winner finds me on the street and pulls a gun on me… Then I suppose you can have all the nickels you want.