Electrical Silencing of Drosophila Pacemaker Neurons Stops the Free-Running Circadian Clock

Jun 28, 2002Cell

Turning off fruit fly clock neurons stops their natural daily rhythm

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Circadian BiologyCircadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Electrical silencing of Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons causes severe deficits in free-running circadian locomotor rhythmicity in complete darkness.

  • Silencing pacemaker neurons halts the oscillation of PERIOD (PER) and TIMELESS (TIM) proteins, which are key components of the molecular clock.
  • In light-dark cycles, while PER and TIM oscillation continues, rhythmic behavior is still impaired by electrical silencing.
  • These findings suggest that electrical activity plays an essential role in maintaining the free-running molecular clock of pacemaker neurons.

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