The CCB is actively pursuing all aspects of inquiry into clock-controlled genes, and comparison of such molecular level outputs of clock function across various species is yielding important new insights into the fundamental mechanisms of clock function. The regulation of the clock-controlled genes provides a window on the complexity of the clockworks in that the clock-controlled genes are subject to regulation by the clock at all levels: transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational, and post-translational. Meanwhile, the output functions in this paradigm are the so called clock-controlled genes whose control by the clock is driven in part by receptor-mediated cell signaling that is dependent upon these internal and external signals. Such cell signaling of interest to chronobiological systems are both internal and external in nature. Analysis of input functions for biological clocks depends on an elucidation of certain receptors for cell signaling which prompts a process influencing the regulation of genes essential to the functioning of the clock. The functioning and importance of the clock mechanism can be explored at the molecular level through the paradigm of input functions and output functions. Cell signaling/clock control of transcription By comparing the findings from these investigations of key mutations in key biological clock genes across many different organisms, these studies should allow us to understand the basic architecture of oscillators across species lines. These studies build upon knowledge about existing mutants by analyzing genetic interactions between mutants in multiple genes relevant to the biological clock. Using single gene mutants and genomics, CCB investigators endeavor to advance the description of the genes and proteins which are involved directly or indirectly in the core oscillator mechanism of the biological clock. Investigators Golden, Kay, Evans, and Brody are exploring the basic architecture of oscillators through the exploitation of genetic techniques as a way of dissecting the complex biological phenomena of the biological clock. Current research in this cluster falls principally in three categories: (i) Comparative molecular mechanisms, (ii) Cell signaling/clock control of transcription, and (iii) gene networks. Such gene-based research has increasingly permitted the dissection of key components of the biological clock and provide a means for comparison of features of the biological clock across species lines. The Molecular Clock Mechanisms/Gene-Protein Networks Cluster draws heavily upon the techniques of molecular biology and biochemistry to study the molecular building blocks of biological clocks. Molecular Clock Mechanisms/Gene-Protein Networks
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