A Functional Context for Heterogeneity of the Circadian Clock in Cells

Authors

Martha Merrow, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Mary E. Harrington, Smith CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-14-2020

Publication Title

PLoS Biology

Abstract

Characterization of circadian systems at the organism level—a top-down approach—has led to definition of unifying properties, a hallmark of the science of chronobiology. The next challenge is to use a bottom-up approach to show how the molecular workings of the cellular circadian clock work as building blocks of those properties. We review new studies, including a recently published PLOS Biology paper by Nikhil and colleagues, that show how programmed but also stochastic generation of variation in cellular circadian period explain important adaptive features of entrained circadian phase.

Volume

18

Issue

10

DOI

10.1371/journal.pbio.3000927

ISSN

15449173

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

© 2020 Merrow, Harrington.

Comments

Archived as published.

Recommended Citation

Merrow, Martha and Harrington, Mary E., "A Functional Context for Heterogeneity of the Circadian Clock in Cells" (2020). Psychology: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/psy_facpubs/89