To accommodate daily recurring environmental changes, animals show cyclic variations in
behaviour and physiology, which include prominent behavioural states such as sleep–wake …

A genetic screen for mutants that alter circadian rhythms in Drosophila identified the first
clock gene—the period (per) gene. The per gene is a central player within a transcriptional …

Cryptochromes (CRY) are blue-light receptors that mediate various light responses in plants.
The photoexcited CRY molecules undergo several biophysical and biochemical changes …

Background The mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is the most
serious insect pest of western North American pine forests. A recent outbreak destroyed …

Wnt signaling plays critical roles during synaptic development and plasticity. However, the
mechanisms by which Wnts are released and travel to target cells are unresolved. During …

RNA interference (RNAi) is an effective tool for genome-scale, high-throughput analysis of
gene function. In the past five years, a number of genome-scale RNAi high-throughput …

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved pathway responsible for degradation of
cytoplasmic material via the lysosome. Although autophagy has been reported to contribute …

Circadian clocks regulate daily fluctuations of many physiological and behavioral aspects in
life. They are synchronized with the environment via light or temperature cycles [1]. Natural …

In mammals, many physiological processes present diurnal variations, and most of these
rhythms persist even in absence of environmental timing cues. These endogenous circadian …

For 20 years, researchers have thought that circadian clocks are defined by feedback loops
of transcription and translation. The rediscovery of posttranslational circadian oscillators in …