Globe trotters might at last get a breather -- a drug for jet lag is in the offing. A team of researchers from the Harvard and Yale Universities' medical schools are close to nailing down the gene responsible for cloning the gene that codes for melatonin, the hormone that governs the daily sleep cycle (Science, Vol 264, No 5167).
Scientists Steven Reppert and Takashi Ebisawa have cloned the coding region of the receptor gene from the skin pigment cells of frogs. This, they say, would now enable them to clone the receptor protein and understand the cellular mechanisms behind melatonin activity.
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