Genetic analyses of a seasonal interval timer

Journal of Biological Rhythms
Brian J PrendergastR J Nelson

Abstract

Seasonal clocks (e.g., circannual clocks, seasonal interval timers) permit anticipation of regularly occurring environmental events by timing the onset of seasonal transitions in reproduction, metabolism, and behavior. Implicit in the concept that seasonal clocks reflect adaptations to the local environment is the unexamined assumption that heritable genetic variance exists in the critical features of such clocks, namely, their temporal properties. These experiments quantified the intraspecific variance in, and heritability of, the photorefractoriness interval timer in Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus), a seasonal clock that provides temporal information to mechanisms that regulate seasonal transitions in body weight. Twenty-seven families consisting of 54 parents and 109 offspring were raised in a long-day photoperiod and transferred as adults to an inhibitory photoperiod (continuous darkness; DD). Weekly body weight measurements permitted specification of the interval of responsiveness to DD, a reflection of the duration of the interval timer, in each individual. Body weights of males and females decreased after exposure to DD, but 3 to 5 months later, somatic recrudescence occurred, indicative of photorefractoriness to D...Continue Reading

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Citations

Apr 26, 2013·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Megan E Meuti, David L Denlinger
Jul 20, 2007·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Gregory F Ball, Ellen D Ketterson
Jan 6, 2012·The American Naturalist·Sonja V SchaperMarcel E Visser
Oct 19, 2007·Critical Care Medicine·Cornelia KiankChristine Schuett
Dec 12, 2020·Journal of Anatomy·Germán Montoya-SanhuezaAnusuya Chinsamy

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