Department of Pharmacology, Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
FEBS Lett. 2011 May 20;585(10):1427-34. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2011.04.048. Epub 2011 Apr 28.
Circadian clocks are present in most organisms and provide an adaptive mechanism to coordinate physiology and behavior with predictable changes in the environment. Genetic, biochemical, and cellular experiments have identified more than a dozen component genes and a signal transduction pathway that support cell-autonomous, circadian clock function. One of the hallmarks of biological clocks is their ability to reset to relevant stimuli while ignoring most others. We review recent results showing intracellular and intercellular mechanisms that convey this robust timekeeping to a variety of circadian cell types.
生物钟存在于大多数生物体内，为生物提供了一种适应性机制，使生理和行为与环境中的可预测变化相协调。遗传、生化和细胞实验已经确定了十几个组成基因和一个信号转导途径，支持细胞自主的生物钟功能。生物钟的一个特点是，它们能够对相关刺激进行重置，而忽略大多数其他刺激。我们回顾了最近的研究结果，这些结果表明了细胞内和细胞间的机制，将这种强大的计时功能传递给各种生物钟细胞类型。
