A gene that controls how long we sleep has been discovered by scientists explaining why some people have their own internal alarm clock.
Scientists identified a gene called ABCC9 that can reduce the length of time we sleep. The same gene has previously been linked to heart disease and diabetes.
The discovery could explain why light sleepers, such as Margaret Thatcher, are able to get by on just four hours shut-eye a night.
The Europe-wide study saw 4,000 people from seven different EU countries fill out a questionnaire assessing their sleep habits.
Scientists then analysed their answers, as well as participants' genes.
They discovered that people who had two copies of one common variant of ABCC9 slept for "significantly shorter" periods。
Having already established that the ABCC9 gene was also present in fruitflies, the team were able to modify it in the animal and shorten the length of time for which it slept.
Study author Dr Karla Allebrandt, from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich said: ''The ABCC9 gene is evolutionarily ancient, as a similar gene is present in fruitflies. Fruitflies also exhibit sleep-like behaviour. "
"When we blocked the function of the ABCC9 homolog in the fly nervous system, the duration of nocturnal sleep was shortened."




据英国《每日邮报》11月25日报道，科学家们发现了一种能控制人睡眠时间长短的基因，这解释了为什么一些人拥有自己私人的生物钟。

科学家们发现了一种名为ABCC9的基因能缩短我们的睡眠时间。先前的研究发现同样的基因与心脏病和糖尿病有所关联。
这一研究可以解释为什么像玛格丽特-撒切尔（英国前首相）一样的浅眠者能够每晚只睡4个小时。

一项欧洲研究调查了来自7个不同欧盟国家的4000名研究对象，研究人员让他们填写了一份关于个人睡眠习惯的调查问卷。

之后科学家们分析了参与者的答案与基因。
他们发现拥有两个ABCC9基因变体的人睡眠时间明显较短。

ABCC9基因的既定作用在果蝇身上也得到了证实。该研究小组能修改果蝇的这种基因并缩短其睡眠时间。

该研究的主创人、来自慕尼黑大学的卡尔拉-阿莱勃朗特博士说："ABCC9基因是由一种古老的基因进化而来的，在果蝇体内发现了和它类似的一种基因。果蝇也表现出了类似于睡觉一样的行为。"

"当我们阻碍了果蝇神经系统中类似ABCC9的同种基因发挥作用时，果蝇的夜间睡眠时间就缩短了。"

• exhibit [ig´zibit] vt.展出 n.展览品 (初中英语单词)
• function [´fʌŋkʃən] n.机能；职责 vi.活动 (初中英语单词)
• nervous [´nə:vəs] a.神经的；神经过敏的 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• internal [in´tə:nl] a.内部的；国内的 (高中英语单词)
• previously [´pri:viəsli] ad.预先；以前 (高中英语单词)
• shorten [´ʃɔ:tn] v.缩短，变短 (英语四级单词)
• munich [´mju:nik] n.慕尼黑 (英语六级单词)
• duration [djuə´reiʃən] n.持久；持续期间 (英语六级单词)