ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2002
Loss of circadian clock function decreases reproductive fitness in males of Drosophila melanogaster.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
80 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 232 citations in OpenAlex.
- An update on the role and potential mechanisms of clock genes regulating spermatogenesis: A systematic review of human and animal experimental studies.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2023Pooled it
- Matching circadian rhythms to light-dark cycles increases lettuce yield by 29% in vertical farms without additional energy input.Journal of experimental botany · 2026Article
- Brain circadian clock neurons drive fitness advantages iniScience · 2026Article
- The Period (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Conserved eukaryotic factors XCT and COP1 work together to control circadian clock function and reproductive timing in plants.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Article
- Remote and partial clocks expand the circadian neuronal network, driving widespread molecular rhythmicity inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Daily sperm release rhythms in wild geometer moths: comparative characteristics across ecologically diverse species.Environmental entomology · 2025Article
- Tissue-specific CLOCK isoforms modulate circadian feedback loops to govern reproductive fitness in Drosophila.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2025Article
- Article
- Adaptability in the aperiodicmicroPublication biology · 2025Article
- The seminal vesicle is a juvenile hormone-responsive tissue in adult maleOpen biology · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Adaptive Fitness of Circadian Clocks and their Evolution.Journal of biological rhythms · 2024Review
- Circadian immunity from bench to bedside: a practical guide.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2024Review
- Sleep: An Essential and Understudied Process in the Biology of Blood-Feeding Arthropods.Integrative and comparative biology · 2023Review
- Organismal landscape of clock cells and circadian gene expression inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Selection and geography shape male reproductive tract transcriptomes in Drosophila melanogaster.Genetics · 2023Article
- Light and dark cycles modify the expression of clock genes in the ovaries of Aedes aegypti in a noncircadian manner.PloS one · 2023Article
- Males of Aedes aegypti show different clock gene expression profiles in the presence of conspecific females.Parasites & vectors · 2022Article
- Magnetic field effects in biology from the perspective of the radical pair mechanism.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Review
- Molecular Oscillator Affects Susceptibility of Caterpillars to Insecticides: Studies on the Egyptian Cotton Leaf Worm-Insects · 2022Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Circadian coordination of life functions is believed to contribute to an organism's fitness; however, such contributions have not been convincingly demonstrated in any animal. The most significant measure of fitness is the reproductive output of the individual and species. Here we examined the consequences of loss of clock function on reproductive fitness in Drosophila melanogaster with mutated period (per(0)), timeless (tim(0)), cycle (cyc(0)), and Clock (Clk(Jrk)) genes. Single mating among couples with clock-deficient phenotypes resulted in approximately 40% fewer progeny compared with wild-type flies, because of a decreased number of eggs laid and a greater rate of unfertilized eggs. Male contribution to this phenotype was demonstrated by a decrease in reproductive capacity among per(0) and tim(0) males mated with wild-type females. The important role of clock genes for reproductive fitness was confirmed by reversal of the low-fertility phenotype in flies with rescued per or tim function. Males lacking a functional clock showed a significant decline in the quantity of sperm released from the testes to seminal vesicles, and these tissues displayed rhythmic and autonomous expression of clock genes. By combining molecular and physiological approaches, we identified a circadian clock in the reproductive system and defined its role in the sperm release that promotes reproductive fitness in D. melanogaster.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.