Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21690131›Full record

ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2011

Evolution of time-keeping mechanisms: early emergence and adaptation to photoperiod.

R A Hut, D G M Beersma

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
80citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

80 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Neurotensin in the extended amygdala maintains wakefulness in novel environments.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  4. Review
  5. The Effects of Light on Vertebrate Welfare: A Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. PERspectives on circadian cell biology.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  11. Article
  12. Temperature-dependent fold-switching mechanism of the circadian clock protein KaiB.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Variation in photoperiod response corresponds to differences in circadian light sensitivity in northern and southern Nasonia vitripennis lines.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Clock-talk: have we forgotten about geographic variation?Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2024
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Clockwork intruders: Do parasites manipulate their hosts' circadian rhythms?Current research in parasitology & vector-borne diseases · 2024
    Review

20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

R A HutUniversity of Groningen, Chronobiology Research Unit, Life Science building, Nijenborgh 7, 9747AG Groningen, The Netherlands. r.a.hut@rug.nl
D G M Beersma

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Virtually all species have developed cellular oscillations and mechanisms that synchronize these cellular oscillations to environmental cycles. Such environmental cycles in biotic (e.g. food availability and predation risk) or abiotic (e.g. temperature and light) factors may occur on a daily, annual or tidal time scale. Internal timing mechanisms may facilitate behavioural or physiological adaptation to such changes in environmental conditions. These timing mechanisms commonly involve an internal molecular oscillator (a 'clock') that is synchronized ('entrained') to the environmental cycle by receptor mechanisms responding to relevant environmental signals ('Zeitgeber', i.e. German for time-giver). To understand the evolution of such timing mechanisms, we have to understand the mechanisms leading to selective advantage. Although major advances have been made in our understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms driving internal cycles (proximate questions), studies identifying mechanisms of natural selection on clock systems (ultimate questions) are rather limited. Here, we discuss the selective advantage of a circadian system and how its adaptation to day length variation may have a functional role in optimizing seasonal timing. We discuss various cases where selective advantages of circadian timing mechanisms have been shown and cases where temporarily loss of circadian timing may cause selective advantage. We suggest an explanation for why a circadian timing system has emerged in primitive life forms like cyanobacteria and we evaluate a possible molecular mechanism that enabled these bacteria to adapt to seasonal variation in day length. We further discuss how the role of the circadian system in photoperiodic time measurement may explain differential selection pressures on circadian period when species are exposed to changing climatic conditions (e.g. global warming) or when they expand their geographical range to different latitudes or altitudes.

Indexed as

Adaptation, PhysiologicalBiological EvolutionPhotoperiodAnimalsArabidopsisBiological ClocksBrainCircadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and ProteinsGene Expression RegulationLightCircadian Rhythm Signaling Peptides and Proteins

Identifiers

PMID21690131
PMCPMC3130368

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.