Journal
JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS
Volume 27, Issue 1, Pages 37-47Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0748730411420246
Keywords
locomotor activity; bimodality; dawn and dusk; temperature; timeless
Categories
Funding
- European Community [018741]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The ability to adapt to different environmental conditions including seasonal changes is a key feature of the circadian clock. Here, we compared the ability of 3 Drosophila melanogaster wild-type strains to adapt rhythmic activity to long photoperiods simulated in the laboratory. Fruit flies are predominantly crepuscular with activity bouts in the morning (M) and evening (E). The M peak follows dawn and the E peak follows dusk when the photoperiod is extended. We show that this ability is restricted to a certain extension of the phase angle between M and E peaks, such that the E peak does not delay beyond a certain phase under long days. We demonstrate that this ability is significantly improved by simulated twilight and that it depends additionally on the genetic background and the ambient temperature. At 20 degrees C, the laboratory strain CantonS had the most flexible phase angle between M and E peaks, a Northern wild-type strain had an intermediate one, and a Southern wild-type strain had the lowest flexibility. Furthermore, we found that the 3 strains differed in clock light sensitivity, with the CantonS and the Northern strains more light sensitive than the Southern strain. These results are generally in accord with the recently discovered polymorphisms in the timeless gene (tim) that affect clock light sensitivity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available