Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on November 1, 2004.

Genetics, Vol. 169, 751-766, February 2005, Copyright © 2005
doi:10.1534/genetics.104.036244

The Novel Drosophila tim^blind Mutation Affects Behavioral Rhythms but Not Periodic Eclosion

Corinna Wülbeck^*, Gisela Szabo^*, Orie T. Shafer, Charlotte Helfrich-Förster^* and Ralf Stanewsky^*,,1

^* Universität Regensburg, Institut für Zoologie, Lehrstuhl für Entwicklungsbiologie, 93040 Regensburg, Germany
University of Washington, Department of Zoology, Seattle, Washington 98195-1800
Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454

¹ Corresponding author: Universität Regensburg, Institut für Zoologie, Lehrstuhl für Entwicklungsbiologie, Universitätsstrasse 31, 93040 Regensburg, Germany.
E-mail: ralf.stanewsky{at}biologie.uni-regensburg.de

Circadian clock function depends on the tightly regulated exclusion or presence of clock proteins within the nucleus. A newly induced long-period timeless mutant, tim^blind, encodes a constitutively hypophosphorylated TIM protein. The mutant protein is not properly degraded by light, and tim^blind flies show abnormal behavioral responses to light pulses. This is probably caused by impaired nuclear accumulation of TIM^BLIND protein, which we observed in brain pacemaker neurons and photoreceptor cells of the compound eye. tim^blind encodes two closely spaced amino acid changes compared to the wild-type TIM protein; one of them is within a putative nuclear export signal of TIM. Under constant conditions, tim^blind flies exhibit 26-hr free-running locomotor rhythms, which are not correlated with a period lengthening of eclosion rhythms and period-luciferase reporter-gene oscillations. Therefore it seems possible that TIM—in addition to its well-established role as core clock factor—functions as a clock output factor, involved in determining the period length of adult locomotor rhythms.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				W. Bachleitner, L. Kempinger, C. Wulbeck, D. Rieger, and C. Helfrich-Forster Moonlight shifts the endogenous clock of Drosophila melanogaster PNAS, February 27, 2007; 104(9): 3538 - 3543. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Peschel, S. Veleri, and R. Stanewsky Veela defines a molecular link between Cryptochrome and Timeless in the light-input pathway to Drosophila's circadian clock PNAS, November 14, 2006; 103(46): 17313 - 17318. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. H. Collins, S. Dissel, E. Gaten, E. Rosato, and C. P. Kyriacou Disruption of Cryptochrome partially restores circadian rhythmicity to the arrhythmic period mutant of Drosophila PNAS, December 27, 2005; 102(52): 19021 - 19026. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

International Access Link

Online ISSN: 1943-2361  Print ISSN: 0016-6731
Copyright 2009 by the Genetics Society of America
phone: 412-268-1812   fax: 412-268-1813   email: genetics-gsa{at}andrew.cmu.edu