News tagged with circadian clock

It's in the genes: Research pinpoints how plants know when to flower

Scientists believe they've pinpointed the last crucial piece of the 80-year-old puzzle of how plants "know" when to flower.

Biology / Biotechnology

created May 25, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (10) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Group finds circadian clock common to almost all life forms

(Phys.org) -- A group of biology researchers, led by Akhilesh Reddy from Cambridge University have found an enzyme that they believe serves as a circadian clock that operates in virtually all forms of life. ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 8 | with audio podcast report

Barley takes a leaf out of reindeer's book in the land of the midnight sun

Barley grown in Scandinavian countries is adapted in a similar way to reindeer to cope with the extremes of day length at high latitudes. Researchers have found a genetic mutation in some Scandinavian barley ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 11, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Plants use circadian rhythms to prepare for battle with insects

In a study of the molecular underpinnings of plants' pest resistance, Rice University biologists have shown that plants both anticipate daytime raids by hungry insects and make sophisticated preparations to ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 13, 2012 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

How exposure to irregular light affects plant circadian rhythms

Scientists know that plants can actually "sense" day length, and "schedule" their growth to coincide with specific environmental conditions. These natural events are based on the circadian clock, a 24-hour ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 14, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Researchers identify structure of circadian clock protein

(PhysOrg.com) -- Feeling jet-lagged? You may need your internal clock reset. New Cornell research has taken a major step toward treating jet lag and other more serious syndromes by advancing our understanding ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 15, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Research team shows skin stem cells run by circadian clock

(PhysOrg.com) -- Most everyone has heard of the circadian rhythm or the internal clock that people have that tells them when to do things, such as go to sleep. In fact, researchers have actually located where this “clock” ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Differences in jet lag severity could be rooted in how circadian clock sets itself

It's no secret that long-distance, west-to-east air travel – Seattle to Paris, for example – can raise havoc with a person's sleep and waking patterns, and that the effects are substantially less pronounced when ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Oct 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Circadian clocks in a blind fish

Do animals that have evolved for millions of years underground, completely isolated from the day-night cycle, still "know" what time it is? Does a normal circadian clock persist during evolution under constant darkness? A ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 06, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Glowing, blinking bacteria reveal how cells synchronize biological clocks

Biologists have long known that organisms from bacteria to humans use the 24 hour cycle of light and darkness to set their biological clocks. But exactly how these clocks are synchronized at the molecular level to perform ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Manipulating plants' circadian clock may make all-season crops possible

Yale University researchers have identified a key genetic gear that keeps the circadian clock of plants ticking, a finding that could have broad implications for global agriculture.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 01, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Finding mechanism behind bacteria's biological clock

(PhysOrg.com) -- A discovery by a professor at the University of California, Merced, is providing a deeper understanding of the factors that control biological clocks.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 31, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Biologists discover an 'evening' protein complex that regulates plant growth

Farmers and other astute observers of nature have long known that crops like corn and sorghum grow taller at night. But the biochemical mechanisms that control this nightly stem elongation, common to most plants, have been ...

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Newly discovered molecule essential to resetting 'body clocks'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Research has shown that light is the key to getting our 'body clocks' back in sync and now a new study exploring the resynchronisation mechanism in insects has discovered a molecule essential ...

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

'Wrong'-time eating reduces fertility in fruit flies

Dieticians will tell you it isn't healthy to eat late at night: it's a recipe for weight gain. In fruit flies, at least, there's another consequence: reduced fertility.

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Jun 07, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Circadian rhythm

A circadian rhythm is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of living entities, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria (see bacterial circadian rhythms). The term "circadian", coined by Franz Halberg, comes from the Latin circa, "around," and diem or dies, "day", meaning literally "approximately one day." The formal study of biological temporal rhythms such as daily, tidal, weekly, seasonal, and annual rhythms, is called chronobiology.

Circadian rhythms are endogenously generated, and can be entrained by external cues, called Zeitgebers, the primary one of which is daylight. These rhythms allow organisms to anticipate and prepare for precise and regular environmental changes.

For more information about Circadian rhythm, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: plants , circadian rhythms