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Circadian Timing in Animals

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Development

Abstract

Our planet turns around its own axis once a day and around the sun once a year. As a consequence, light and dark phases alternate once a day, and, except in the equatorial latitudes, their relative lengths change during the year. Many organisms have adapted their physiology and behavior of these varying geophysical circum stances, restricting their activity periods to a certain time window during the 24-h day. Humans, for example, are active during the day and sleep through part of the night. The converse is true for many rodents, such as rats and mice. Green plants can capture solar energy for photosynthesis only during the light phase, converting some of the captured energy to chemical energy in the form of starch granules, which will provide the energy for basic metabolism during the dark phase. One might imagine that the presence or absence of light would suffice as timing cues dictating the activity periods of an organism. However, the story happens to be more sophisticated. Many organisms can actually anticipate the time of sunrise or sunset of the next day with astounding precision. To do so, they require a device that not only can measure time but also can respond to seasonal changes in the duration of the light and dark phases (photoperiod). This timing system is called the circadian clock. Circadian is derived from the Latin words circa diem meaning about a day. Circadian clocks are widespread among the animal and plant kingdoms, and have even been found in prokaryotes. This suggests that, during evolution, temporal anticipation has been advantageous over merely reacting to the photoperiod.

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Authors
  1. Ueli Schibler
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  2. Daniel J. Lavery
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MPI für Molekulare Genetik, Ihnestraße 73, D-14195, Berlin, Germany

    Vincenzo E. A. Russo

  2. Leeds Institute of Plant Biochemistry and Agriculture, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS29JT, Great Britain

    David J. Cove

  3. Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, 80302, CO, USA

    Lois G. Edgar

  4. Whitehead Institute, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, 02141, MA, USA

    Rudolf Jaenisch

  5. MPI für Züchtungsforschung, Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, Köln, D-50829, Germany

    Francesco Salamini

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Schibler, U., Lavery, D.J. (1999). Circadian Timing in Animals. In: Russo, V.E.A., Cove, D.J., Edgar, L.G., Jaenisch, R., Salamini, F. (eds) Development. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59828-9_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59828-9_31

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