Timeless in The Cricket Gryllus Bimaculatus
Timeless does not appear to be essential for oscillation of the circadian clock for all insects. In wild type crickets, tim mRNA shows rhythmic expression in both LD and DD (dark-dark cycles) similar to that of per, peaking during the (subjective) night. When injected with tim double-stranded RNA (dstim), tim mRNA levels were significantly reduced and its circadian expression rhythm was eliminated. After the dstim treatment, however, adult crickets showed a clear locomotor rhythm in constant darkness, with a free-running period significantly shorter than that of control crickets injected with Discosoma sp. Red2 (DsRed2) dsRNA. These results suggest that in the cricket, tim plays some role in fine-tuning of the free-running period but may not be essential for oscillation of the circadian clock.
Read more about this topic: Timeless (gene)
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