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 Web of Science
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 Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schomerus, C.
Right arrow Articles by Wicht, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Schomerus, C.
Right arrow Articles by Wicht, H.
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?

Nocturnal Behavior and Rhythmic Period Gene Expression in a Lancelet, Branchiostoma lanceolatum

Christof Schomerus

Fachbereich Medizin der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie, Institut für Anatomie II, Frankfurt, Germany, Schomerus{at}em.uni-frankfurt.de

Horst-Werner Korf

Fachbereich Medizin der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie, Institut für Anatomie II, Frankfurt, Germany

Elke Laedtke

Fachbereich Medizin der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie, Institut für Anatomie II, Frankfurt, Germany

Frédéric Moret

Université de Lyon, Villeurbanne, France

Qian Zhang

Fachbereich Medizin der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie, Institut für Anatomie II, Frankfurt, Germany

Helmut Wicht

Fachbereich Medizin der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie, Institut für Anatomie II, Frankfurt, Germany

The authors here present the first anatomical, molecular biological, and ethological data on the organization of the circadian system of a lancelet, Branchiostoma lanceolatum, a close invertebrate relative of vertebrates. B. lanceolatum was found to be a nocturnal animal and, since its rhythmic activity persisted under constant darkness, it also appears to possess an endogenous, circadian oscillator. The authors cloned a homolog of the clock gene Period (Per), which plays a central (inhibitory) role in the biochemical machinery of the circadian oscillators of both vertebrates and protostomians. This gene from B. lanceolatum was designated as amphiPer. Both the sequence of its cDNA and that of the predicted protein are more similar to those of the Per paralogs of vertebrates than to those of the single protostomian Per gene. A strong expression of amphiPer was found in a small cell group in the anterior neural tube. The amphiPer mRNA levels fluctuated in a rhythmic manner, being high early in the day and low late at night. The authors' data suggest a homology of the amphiPer expessing cells to the suprachiasmatic nucleus of vertebrates.

Key Words: circadian • period • per • rhythms • behavior • lancelet • amphioxus • cephalochordate

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 23, No. 2, 170-181 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0748730407313363
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?