Journal article

Circadian expression of the clock gene Per2 is altered in the ruin lizard (Podarcis sicula) when temperature changes

  • Magnone, Maria Chiara Department of Medicine, Division of Biochemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland - Dipartimento di Biologia and Centro di Neuroscienze, Universita di Ferrara, Italy
  • Jacobmeier, Birgit Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Endocrinology, Hannover, Germany
  • Bertolucci, Cristiano Dipartimento di Biologia and Centro di Neuroscienze, Universita di Ferrara, Italy
  • Foà, Augusto Dipartimento di Biologia and Centro di Neuroscienze, Universita di Ferrara, Italy
  • Albrecht, Urs Department of Medicine, Division of Biochemistry, University of Fribourg, Switzerland - Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Endocrinology, Hannover, Germany
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    10.11.2004
Published in:
  • Molecular Brain Research. - 2005, vol. 133, no. 2, p. 281-286
English When exposed to the cold, the body temperature of the ruin lizard (Podarcis sicula), an ectothermic vertebrate, comes into equilibrium with that low environmental temperature. During this time, the behavioral output of the circadian clock, locomotor activity, disappears. We tested the activity of the circadian clockwork at low temperature (6 °C) by following the expression of one of its essential components, the Period2 (Per2) gene. Here we show that lizard Per2 (lPer2) expression, which is rhythmic and paralleling the behavioral rhythm of locomotor activity at higher temperature (29 °C), becomes constantly high at low temperature. When lizards are re-exposed to high temperature, rhythmic lPer2 expression is re-established after 2 days of adaptation and coincides with onset of locomotor activity. The alteration of the lPer2 expression pattern at low temperature indicates that the activity of the molecular feedback loop is modified under these conditions.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/299686
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