Searching for Genes Underlying Behavior: Lessons from Circadian Rhythms
Joseph S. Takahashi,1,2,3*
Kazuhiro Shimomura,2,3
Vivek Kumar1,2,3
The success of forward genetic (from phenotype to gene) approaches
to uncover genes that drive the molecular mechanism of circadian
clocks and control circadian behavior has been unprecedented.
Links among genes, cells, neural circuits, and circadian behavior
have been uncovered in the
Drosophila and mammalian systems,
demonstrating the feasibility of finding single genes that have
major effects on behavior. Why was this approach so successful
in the elucidation of circadian rhythms? This article explores
the answers to this question and describes how the methods used
successfully for identifying the molecular basis of circadian
rhythms can be applied to other behaviors such as anxiety, addiction,
and learning and memory.
2 Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
3 Center for Functional Genomics, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j-takahashi{at}northwestern.edu
