FRQ-less oscillators in the circadian system of Neurospora

脉孢菌昼夜节律系统中无 FRQ 的振荡器

• 批准号: 250133-2012
• 负责人: LakinThomas, Patricia
• 金额: $ 1.89万
• 依托单位: York University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=570828
• 关键词: FRQ; less; oscillators; circadian; system

We study the biological clocks that drive circadian (daily) rhythms in bacteria, plants, fungi and animals. Because these rhythms are found in all domains of life and at all levels of organization from single cells to whole animals, they are a fundamental property of living things. Previous research has shown that there are common features to the clocks in all organisms: a set of genes produce proteins that interact to turn each other's expression on and off in a 24-hour feedback loop. Although these feedback loops are clearly important in the clock mechanisms, rhythms can still be seen when these feedback loops are not functioning. We are trying to find out what other genes are involved in making an organism rhythmic when the feedback loops are not functioning. We are using the fungus Neurospora crassa as a model organism to study these clocks, because it is easy to grow and work with in the lab, it has been studied for many years, and its rhythm of spore-formation is easy to see. We have discovered genes that seem to be important for maintaining rhythms outside of the known feedback loops. We are proposing to study these genes, find out what products they make and how those products function, and how they might interact with the proteins of the well-known feedback loop. We expect that this research will tell us more about how daily clocks are constructed, and how living things can tell time. The information will be useful to anyone studying cells and how they organize their internal processes, and anyone studying whole organisms and how they interact with the daily cycles in their environment.

我们研究在细菌、植物、真菌和动物中驱动昼夜节律的生物钟。因为这些节律存在于生命的各个领域和各个层次的组织中，从单个细胞到整个动物，它们是生物的基本属性。之前的研究表明，所有生物体的生物钟都有共同的特征：一组基因产生的蛋白质相互作用，在24小时的反馈循环中开启和关闭彼此的表达。虽然这些反馈环路在时钟机制中显然很重要，但当这些反馈环路不起作用时，仍然可以看到节奏。我们正在试图找出当反馈环不起作用时，还有哪些基因参与了使生物体有节奏的过程。我们用粗糙脉孢霉作为模式生物来研究这些时钟，因为它很容易在实验室里生长和使用，它已经被研究了很多年，而且它的孢子形成节奏很容易看出来。我们已经发现了在已知反馈环路之外似乎对维持节奏很重要的基因。我们提议研究这些基因，找出它们生产什么产品，这些产品是如何发挥作用的，以及它们可能如何与众所周知的反馈回路中的蛋白质相互作用。我们希望这项研究将告诉我们更多关于日常时钟是如何构造的，以及生物是如何判断时间的。这些信息将对任何研究细胞及其如何组织内部过程的人，以及任何研究整个有机体及其如何与环境中的日常周期相互作用的人都有用。