A blend of two circadian clocks, seasoned to perfection.
The daily activity of the fruit fly Drosophila is controlled by both a "morning" and an "evening" circadian clock. In this issue Stoleru et al. (2007) demonstrate that day length determines which clock dominates the neural circuitry governing circadian behavior. Thus, these findings suggest a mechanism by which the system for circadian timing adapts to changes in the seasons to impose appropriate rhythms of daily activity.
Edery
Isaac
I
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers University, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. edery@cabm.rutgers.edu <edery@cabm.rutgers.edu>
D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D017440:Photoperiod; D012621:Seasons