Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Journal of Biological Rhythms
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Roenneberg, T.
Right arrow Articles by Merrow, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Roenneberg, T.
Right arrow Articles by Merrow, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Life before the Clock: Modeling Circadian Evolution

Till Roenneberg

Institute for Medical Psychology, Chronobiology Division, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Goethestr. 31, D-80336 Munich, Germany; till.roenneberg{at}imp.med.uni-muenchen.de

Martha Merrow

Institute for Medical Psychology, Chronobiology Division, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, D-80336 Munich, Germany

A feedback loop that functions via transcription and translation is thought to be the mechanistic core of circadian rhythmicity. Numerous modeling efforts incorporate the identified components and their modifications to recreate the circadian clock in computer simulations. Several issues remain problematic, including the lack of precise quantitative kinetics and the likely existence of additional, as-yet-undiscovered components. Even without these complications, models and flow charts of the circadian system have reached high complexity. They attempt to reconcile all observations without violating current views and concepts. In this article, the authors consider the mechanisms that may have preceded the circadian system in evolution. Given that cellular metabolism and biochemistry were presumably already interconnected in cascading feedback reactions prior to the appendage of the transcription/translation feedback loop, a coordinated response to exogenous changes would be advantageous over unsystematic responses. The authors hypothesize that those mechanisms that allowed synchronization in spite of metabolic complexity form the basis for the evolution of circadian properties and are as fundamental to the circadian system as the transcriptional/translational feedback loop.

Key Words: circadian rhythm • model • evolution • negative feedback

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 17, No. 6, 495-505 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/0748730402238231
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
M. J.P. Simons
The Evolution of the Cyanobacterial Posttranslational Clock from a Primitive "Phoscillator"
J Biol Rhythms, June 1, 2009; 24(3): 175 - 182.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
D. B. Murray, M. Beckmann, and H. Kitano
Regulation of yeast oscillatory dynamics
PNAS, February 13, 2007; 104(7): 2241 - 2246.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Genes Dev.Home page
M. Merrow, G. Mazzotta, Z. Chen, and T. Roenneberg
The right place at the right time: regulation of daily timing by phosphorylation
Genes & Dev., October 1, 2006; 20(19): 2629 - 2633.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
R. M. Smith and S. B. Williams
Circadian rhythms in gene transcription imparted by chromosome compaction in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus
PNAS, May 30, 2006; 103(22): 8564 - 8569.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
T. Roenneberg, Z. Dragovic, and M. Merrow
Demasking biological oscillators: Properties and principles of entrainment exemplified by the Neurospora circadian clock
PNAS, May 24, 2005; 102(21): 7742 - 7747.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
E. Tauber, K. S. Last, P. J.W. Olive, and C. P. Kyriacou
Clock Gene Evolution and Functional Divergence
J Biol Rhythms, October 1, 2004; 19(5): 445 - 458.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
Y. Tan, M. Merrow, and T. Roenneberg
Photoperiodism in Neurospora Crassa
J Biol Rhythms, April 1, 2004; 19(2): 135 - 143.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Biol RhythmsHome page
M. C. Antle, D. K. Foley, N. C. Foley, and R. Silver
Gates and Oscillators: A Network Model of the Brain Clock
J Biol Rhythms, August 1, 2003; 18(4): 339 - 350.
[Abstract] [PDF]