This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Saunders, D.S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Saunders, D.S. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Circadian Basis of Ovarian Diapause Regulation in Drosophila melanogaster: Is the period Gene Causally Involved in Photoperiodic Time Measurement?

Department of Zoology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, United Kingdom

Females of a wild-type strain of Drosophila melanogaster (Canton-S), and of several clock mutants (period), were able to discriminate between diapause-inducing short days and diapause- averting long days with a well-defined critical daylength. The critical daylengths of a short-period mutant (per^s) and a long-period mutant (per^L2) were almost identical, both to each other and to that of Canton-S. The critical daylength of an arrhythmic mutant (per^ol), however, was about 3 hr shorter than that of Canton-S, and that of per- was about 5 hr shorter. Exposure of Canton-S females to Nanda-Hamner experiments, consisting of a 10-hr photophase coupled to a dark phase varying between 4 and 74 hr, showed (1) that the photoperiodic clock in D. melanogaster measures nightlength rather than daylength, and (2) that photoperiodic time measurement is somehow based on (or affected by) constituent oscillators in the circadian system. Nanda-Hamner results for the period mutants all showed similar profiles regardless of genotype, or the presence or absence of per locus DNA. These results suggest that photoperiodic induction and locomotor activity do not share a common pacemaker in D. melanogaster, and that the per gene is not causally involved in nightlength measurement by the photoperiodic clock, although flies in which the per locus is missing (per-) or defective (per^ol) show an altered critical value.

Journal of Biological Rhythms, Vol. 5, No. 4, 315-331 (1990)
DOI: 10.1177/074873049000500404


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Sakamoto, O. Uryu, and K. Tomioka The Clock Gene period Plays an Essential Role in Photoperiodic Control of Nymphal Development in the Cricket Modicogryllus siamensis J Biol Rhythms, October 1, 2009; 24(5): 379 - 390. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. Mathias, L. Jacky, W. E. Bradshaw, and C. M. Holzapfel Quantitative Trait Loci Associated with Photoperiodic Response and Stage of Diapause in the Pitcher-Plant Mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii Genetics, May 1, 2007; 176(1): 391 - 402. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. L. Lakin-Thomas Transcriptional Feedback Oscillators: Maybe, Maybe Not... J Biol Rhythms, April 1, 2006; 21(2): 83 - 92. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Lankinen and P. Forsman Independence of Genetic Geographical Variation between Photoperiodic Diapause, Circadian Eclosion Rhythm, and Thr-Gly Repeat Region of the Period Gene in Drosophila littoralis J Biol Rhythms, February 1, 2006; 21(1): 3 - 12. [Abstract] [PDF]

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

				E. Tauber and B. P. Kyriacou Insect Photoperiodism and Circadian Clocks: Models and Mechanisms J Biol Rhythms, August 1, 2001; 16(4): 381 - 390. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. Roenneberg and M. Merrow Seasonality and Photoperiodism in Fungi J Biol Rhythms, August 1, 2001; 16(4): 403 - 414. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Kaneko, M. J. Hamblen, and J. C. Hall Involvement of the period Gene in Developmental Time-Memory: Effect of the perShort Mutation on Phase Shifts Induced by Light Pulses Delivered to Drosophila Larvae J Biol Rhythms, February 1, 2000; 15(1): 13 - 30. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. V. Nunes and D. Saunders Photoperiodic Time Measurement in Insects: A Review of Clock Models J Biol Rhythms, April 1, 1999; 14(2): 84 - 104. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. A. Wheeler, M. J. Hamblen-Coyle, M. S. Dushay, and J. C. Hall Behavior in Light-Dark Cycles of Drosophila Mutants That Are Arrhythmic, Blind, or Both J Biol Rhythms, April 1, 1993; 8(1): 67 - 94. [Abstract] [PDF]

				N. A. P. Kenny and D. S. Saunders Adult Locomotor Rhythmicity as "Hands" of the Maternal Photoperiodic Clock Regulating Larval Diapause in the Blowfly, Calliphora vicina J Biol Rhythms, September 1, 1991; 6(3): 217 - 233. [Abstract] [PDF]