Rapid damping of food-entrained circadian rhythm of clock gene expression in clock-defective peripheral tissues under fasting conditions

Clock/Clock mice exhibit food-anticipatory behavior similar to wild-type mice despite lower amplitude of clock gene expression.

• Clock/Clock mice show robust food-anticipatory activity aligned with a restricted feeding schedule, like wild-type mice.
• The peak expression of clock genes in the liver is phase-advanced in both Clock/Clock and wild-type mice.
• Clock/Clock mice maintain a behavioral rhythm similar to wild-type during a 2-day fasting period following restricted feeding.
• After removing temporal feeding cues, Clock/Clock mice display arrhythmicity in liver and heart clock gene oscillations.
• Intact CLOCK protein may play a role in sustaining peripheral circadian rhythms after resetting from restricted feeding.

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