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Science 16 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5413, pp. 421 - 422
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5413.421
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News Focus

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS:
The Clock Plot Thickens

Marcia Barinaga

Although many of the components of the circadian clock that regulates our bodily functions over a 24-hour cycle are known to researchers, the crucial photoreceptor that passes light's signal to the clock is not. Now two suspects, the light-sensitive pigments in the rod and cone cells of the mammalian eye, are eliminated by two papers in this issue (pp. 502 and 505). And a report in yesterday's issue of Nature puts an intriguing wrinkle in the story a of another candidate, a protein called cryptochrome, fingering it as a likely part of the clock itself. Its authors found that in mice lacking cryptochrome the clock doesn't run at all, meaning that cryptochrome is essential for clock function, but leaving open the question of whether it is the long-sought circadian photoreceptor in mammals.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The Retina of Spalax ehrenbergi: Novel Histologic Features Supportive of a Modified Photosensory Role.
R. Cernuda-Cernuda, W. J. DeGrip, H. M. Cooper, E. Nevo, and J. M. Garcia-Fernandez (2002)
Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 43, 2374-2383
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