title: The tau mutation affects temperature compensation of hamster retinal circadian oscillators.
abstract: Neural retinas of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) express circadian rhythms of melatonin synthesis when cultured in constant darkness. Retinas from wild-type hamsters synthesize melatonin with a period close to 24 h, while retinas obtained from hamsters homozygous for the circadian mutation tau, which shortens the free-running period of the circadian activity rhythm by 4 h, synthesize melatonin with a period close to 20 h. The retinal circadian oscillators of both wild-type and tau mutant hamsters are temperature compensated; however, temperature compensation is adversely affected by the mutation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22903, USA.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tosini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Menaker
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000235:genetics*; D006224:Cricetinae; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005838:Genotype; D008550:Melatonin / Q000378:metabolism; D008647:Mesocricetus; D009154:Mutation; D009991:Oscillometry; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D016875:tau Proteins; D008550:Melatonin