Renewing the Internal Body Clock Feedback Loop

Circadian clocks may involve simpler mechanisms than currently understood due to newly identified posttranslational oscillators.

• The traditional view of circadian clocks relies on feedback loops of transcription and translation.
• Recent findings show the presence of posttranslational circadian oscillators across various organisms.
• Canonical circadian clocks now include numerous proteins that operate in interconnected feedback loops.
• Self-sustained clock mechanisms could indicate that basic requirements for timekeeping are less complex than previously believed.
• Complex circadian timekeeping mechanisms might have developed from random interactions of separate feedback loops with limited timekeeping abilities.

Simplified