Cellular Mechanisms of Circadian Rhythm Generation

9601382 Roberts 神经系统最有趣的特征之一是它能够经历功能变化。 这些变化可能是由于经验（学习）而发生的，也可能是基于神经细胞生理学和生物化学内部产生的变化。 在包括人类在内的几乎所有生物体中都观察到神经细胞功能的一种常见变化是遵循日常环境的光明和黑暗循环而发生的变化。 有趣的是，神经细胞功能的这些日常变化并不是对环境的反射性反应，而是受到内部计时系统的调节。 内部计时系统由昼夜节律起搏器（大约 - 大约死亡 - 一天）或位于大脑或其他神经结构的“生物钟”控制。 过去几年对昼夜节律起搏器的研究表明，生物钟功能和昼夜节律计时系统的破坏会导致人体生理学中的多种问题。 此外，昼夜节律计时系统（内部节律）之间的相互作用对于充分了解生物体与其环境的关系至关重要。 最后，研究表明生物钟通过许多细胞内生化过程（例如基因转录、翻译和蛋白质修饰）的相互作用发挥作用。 我们工作的目的是研究模型神经系统中生物钟功能的生物化学。 在这些研究中，我们将分析两类特定蛋白质（细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶和丝裂原激活蛋白激酶）所发挥的作用，我们认为它们对于海洋蜗牛 Bulla gouldiana 眼睛中产生的昼夜节律的产生和调节非常重要。 对几种不同昼夜节律起搏器的研究表明，生物钟功能在不同的生物体中得到了保留。 因此，我们的研究应该提供有关昼夜节律产生的生物化学的一般见解。

9601382 Roberts One of the most interesting features of the nervous system is the fact that it is able to undergo functional changes. These changes may occur due to experience - learning - or may be based upon internally generated changes in nerve cell physiology and biochemistry. One common change in nerve cell function, that has been observed in virtually all organisms including humans, are the changes that follow the daily environmental cycle of light and darkness. Interestingly, these daily changes in nerve cell function are not reflexive responses to the environment, but instead are regulated by an internal timing system. The internal timing system is controlled by circadian pacemakers (circa - about dies - a day) or "biological clocks" located in the brain or other neural structures. Investigation of circadian pacemakers over the past several years has indicated that disruption in the function of the circadian clock, and the circadian timing system, leads to multiple problems in human physiology. Furthermore, the interaction between the circadian timing system (internal rhythmicity) is of critical importance in gaining a full understanding of an organism's relationship with its environment. Finally, it has been shown that biological clocks function through the interaction of many intracellular biochemical processes such as gene transcription, translation, and protein modification. The purpose of our work is to investigate the biochemistry of circadian clock function in a model neural system. In these studies we will analyze the role played by two specific classes of protein (cyclin-dependent kinases, and mitogen activated protein kinases) that we propose are important in the generation and regulation of the circadian rhythm produced in the eye of the marine snail, Bulla gouldiana. Investigation of several different circadian pacemakers has shown that clock function has been conserved in a diverse group of organisms. Thus, our studies should pr ovide general insights concerning the biochemistry of circadian rhythm generation.