Wow! They initially couldn't reproduce the study because the researcher and the postdoc were doing the experiment at different times in the day.
"It’s now known that every day, this transcription factor’s levels start at almost nothing, making it impossible to detect in the morning, and then rise 300-fold, making it easy for the postdoc to find in the middle of the day."
The Genetic Basis of Sleep and Sleep Disorders is a collection of papers on the subject, which has a chapter specifically on DSPD. Short story is, there are definitely genetic mutations which influence DSPD. In fact, DSPD seems to be influenced by a larger number of genes than it's cousin disorder, Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder.
I have DSPD, so I've been going to my local university library to study from this book.
"It’s now known that every day, this transcription factor’s levels start at almost nothing, making it impossible to detect in the morning, and then rise 300-fold, making it easy for the postdoc to find in the middle of the day."
Now that's a tough bug