The embryonic development clock is synchronized with metabolism

The role of metabolism in embryonic development is much more complex than expected : it doesn't just break down food and provide energy and the building blocks for organs and tissues, but its rhythm also regulates the developmental clock . This is what a study conducted on mice by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), published in the journal Science Advances, discovered: when metabolism accelerates , development slows down, and vice versa . Playing a key role in this unexpected relationship is a small sugar molecule called fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP), which regulates the clock's rhythm by influencing communication between cells .

Researchers led by Alexander Aulehla observed mouse embryos during their development, highlighting an inverse relationship between metabolic activity within cells and the clock's rhythm, due to FBP's interference with the signals exchanged between cells. Essentially, this molecule plays the same role in embryonic development as the alternation between day and night plays in regulating the circadian clock .

The study's findings could also have broader implications beyond basic research. "The findings raise an important question: can metabolism itself act as a 'pacemaker,' connecting internal biological clocks to external environmental rhythms?" Aulehla asks. "Since metabolism is naturally linked to external signals and cycles, such as the circadian clock, the fact that metabolism can set the embryonic developmental clock supports this idea," the researcher concludes, "which we will test in future studies."