Faculty of Clinical Education, Ashiya University, Hyogo, Japan.
College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Japan.
Prog Brain Res. 2012;199:439-456. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-59427-3.00025-3.
Although circannual rhythms controlling different physiological processes and various aspects of behavior have been reported in numerous organisms, our understanding of the underlying biological mechanisms is still quite limited. We examined the mechanisms controlling the circannual pupation rhythm of the varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci. This rhythm is self-sustainable, exhibits temperature compensation of the periodicity, and is entrainable to environmental changes. In addition, the circannual phase response curves to a photoperiod pulse display Type 0 or Type 1 resetting, depending on the duration of the pulse. Thus, we infer that this rhythm is derived from a self-sustaining biological oscillator with a period of about a year, that is, a circannual clock, analogous to the circadian clock. Further, a circadian clock appears to mediate photoperiodic time measurement for phase resetting of the circannual clock. Based on these results and previous research performed in other organisms, we discuss the general characteristics of the physiological mechanisms underpinning circannual rhythmicity.
尽管在众多生物中已经报道了控制不同生理过程和各种行为方面的年周期节律，但我们对其潜在的生物学机制的理解仍然相当有限。我们研究了控制变色地毯甲虫 Anthrenus verbasci 的年周期化蛹节律的机制。该节律具有自我维持性，表现出周期性的温度补偿，并且可以适应环境变化。此外，年周期相位对光周期脉冲的反应曲线显示出类型 0 或类型 1 的重置，这取决于脉冲的持续时间。因此，我们推断该节律源自具有约一年周期的自我维持生物振荡器，即年周期钟，类似于昼夜节律钟。此外，昼夜节律钟似乎介导了光周期时间测量，以重置年周期钟的相位。基于这些结果和其他生物体中进行的先前研究，我们讨论了支持年周期节律的生理机制的一般特征。
