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Light-Induced Degradation of TIMELESS and Entrainment of the Drosophila Circadian Clock
Light causes breakdown of TIMELESS protein and resets the fruit fly's internal clock
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Abstract
The TIM protein may be rapidly degraded after exposure to light.
- Two genes, period (per) and timeless (tim), are essential for circadian rhythm production in fruit flies.
- The proteins produced by these genes, PER and TIM, interact physically.
- The timing of PER and TIM's association and movement into the nucleus may regulate their own production through a feedback loop.
- TIM accumulates rhythmically in the nuclei of both the eyes and brain's pacemaker cells.
- Light pulses at different times can advance or delay the phase of TIM rhythms, which corresponds with changes in behavioral rhythms.
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