Dissociation of circadian and circatidal timekeeping in the marine crustacean Eurydice pulchra.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tidal (12.4 hr) cycles of behavior and physiology adapt intertidal organisms to temporally complex coastal environments, yet their underlying mechanism is unknown. However, the very existence of an independent "circatidal" clock has been disputed, and it has been argued that tidal rhythms arise as a submultiple of a circadian clock, operating in dual oscillators whose outputs are held in antiphase i.e., ~12.4 hr apart.

Results

We demonstrate that the intertidal crustacean Eurydice pulchra (Leach) exhibits robust tidal cycles of swimming in parallel to circadian (24 hr) rhythms in behavioral, physiological and molecular phenotypes. Importantly, ~12.4 hr cycles of swimming are sustained in constant conditions, they can be entrained by suitable stimuli, and they are

SUBMITTER: Zhang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3793863 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature