Regulation of Retinal Functions by Light and a Circadian Clock

目前还不清楚内部时钟和环境的结合是如何产生的。 光调节众所周知的日常昼夜变化的活动， 脊椎动物和无脊椎动物。 分子机制正在被 在许多实验室中发现，但对生物化学和 眼睛和大脑的生理机制。 时钟功能准备 视网膜中的光感受器在不同的环境中发挥最佳功能， 白天，黄昏或夜晚的背景;反过来，眼睛的视觉输入有助于 调节大脑中运行时钟的正确时间。 本项目采用 马蹄蟹，鲎，作为一个模型系统，是适合广泛的 生化分析 分子、生物化学和免疫化学方法 用于观察生物钟如何产生和调节（磷酸化） 视网膜中的特定蛋白质。 已知光感受器中的一种蛋白质 同时具有结构和酶的特性，实验测试了它是如何 功能是由从大脑到眼睛的时钟输入来调节的。 的 生物化学性质的时钟如何输入到眼睛可以启动 光感受器对光的反应是通过测试生物钟和 光在驱动眼睛中基因表达中的作用，单独或组合。 这些研究将为生物化学过程提供新的见解 视网膜的昼夜变化对正常的 视野 这种影响超出了视觉神经科学的范围， 昼夜节律行为，以及潜在的人类日常周期性活动可能是如何 调制的

It is still unclear how the combination of an internal clock and environmental light regulate the well-known daily circadian changes in activity of both vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Molecular mechanisms are being discovered in many laboratories, but little is known about the biochemical and physiological mechanisms in the eye and brain. Clock function prepares the photoreceptors in the retina of the eye to function optimally in different backgrounds of daylight, dusk, or night; in turn, visual input from the eyes help modulate the correct timing of the running clock in the brain. This project uses the horseshoe crab, Limulus, as a model system that is amenable to extensive biochemical analysis. Molecular, biochemical and immunochemical approaches are used to see how the clock may produce and modulate (phosphorylated) particular proteins in the retina. One protein in the photoreceptors is known to have both structural and enzyme properties, and experiments test how its functions are modulated by the clock input from the brain to the eye. The biochemical nature of how the clock input to the eye can prime the photoreceptor response to light is studied by testing the role of the clock and the role of light in driving gene expression in the eye, separately or in combination. These studies will provide new insights into the biochemical processes underlying the day-to-night changes in the retina that are critical for normal vision. The impact extends beyond visual neuroscience to the analysis of circadian behavior, and potentially to how human daily cyclic activity may be modulated.