Genetics and Molecular Biology of Rhythms in Drosophila and Other Insects

Describes and evaluates the studies into the genetic and molecular chronobiology of Drosophila that underlies its biological rhythms.

Jeffrey C. Hall (Author)

9780120176489, Elsevier Science

Hardback, published 20 February 2003

286 pages
22.9 x 15.1 x 2.2 cm, 0.52 kg

Biological rhythms, such as the sleep-wake cycle or circadian clock, are an intriguing aspect of biology. The regulation of daily rhythmicity has long been a mystery, up until the mid-1980's when a key gene in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, was molecularly identified. Genetic and molecular chronobiology of Drosophila has been a driving force in this field of inquiry ever since. Genetics and Molecular Biology of Rhythms in Drosophila and Other Insects describes and evaluates all of the studies of this sort, discussing the manner by which these investigations have spread out in various directions of rhythmic biology, including genetic and molecular approaches used on other insect species.

Introduction
Mutants Used to Identify Cells and Tissues that Mediate Inputs to Circadian Pacemakers in Drosophila
Mutatants Apparently Defective in Central-Pacemaking Functions Underlying Drosophila's Circadian Rhythmicity
Additional Mutants Found in Screen for Rhythm Variants
Additional Mutants with Defects in Daily Cycles and other Time-Based Phenotypes
Molecular Genetics of Central-Pacemaking Functions
Places and Times of Clock-Gene Expressions
Natural Variants of Clock Genes, Including Interspecific Studies
Temperature Changes and how Clock-Gene Products are Involved in Compensating for Them
Molecular Genetics of Clock Re-Setting by Environmental Stimuli
Gene-Defined Functions Connecting Central Pacemaking to Circadian Chronobiology
Conclusion

Subject Areas: Insects [entomology PSVT7], Genetics [non-medical PSAK]