Circadian rhythms: from behaviour to molecules

BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
E RosatoC P Kyriacou

Abstract

In higher eukaryotes, circadian behaviour patterns have been dissected at the molecular level in Drosophila and, more recently, in the mouse. Considerable progress has been made in identifying some of the molecular components of the clock in the fly, where two genes, period (per) and timeless (tim), are essential for behavioural rhythmicity. The PER and TIM proteins show circadian cycles in abundance, and are part of a negative feedback loop with their own mRNAs. Within the pacemaker neurons, the PER and TIM products are believed to form a complex which allows them to translocate to the nucleus, but how they repress their own transcription is unclear. TIM is rapidly degraded by light, a feature which permits a compelling molecular description of both behavioural light entrainment and phase responses to light pulses. The regulation of per and tim is altered in different Drosophila tissues, however, and comparative analyses of the two genes outside the Diptera reveals further unusual patterns of tissue-specific regulation. Evolution appears to have modified the way in which the two genes are utilised to generate circadian phenotypes. More recently, the cloning of mouse clock genes, including putative per homologues, opens up exci...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 29, 2000·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·M Hastings, E S Maywood
Jan 29, 2000·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·M H Johnson, M L Day
Feb 7, 1998·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·M Heisenberg
Jan 10, 1998·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·G E RobinsonM L Winston
Oct 31, 1998·Current Opinion in Genetics & Development·L D Wilsbacher, J S Takahashi
Nov 13, 1998·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·P E Hardin
Nov 13, 1998·Current Opinion in Neurobiology·R Costa, C P Kyriacou
Dec 19, 1998·BMJ : British Medical Journal·M Hastings
May 16, 1998·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·A A PeixotoC P Kyriacou
Jul 27, 2001·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·T Sakai, N Ishida
Jan 13, 2010·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Masashi Tachikawa
Jun 19, 2004·Journal of Neurogenetics·Ralph J Greenspan
May 13, 1999·Journal of Neurogenetics·J C Hall

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