ArticleEvoDevo2014
Developmental and light-entrained expression of melatonin and its relationship to the circadian clock in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.
Article in EvoDevo, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Looking back: tracing the origins of sleep across the animal kingdom.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Article
- Decoupling behavioral and transcriptional responses to color in an eyeless cnidarian.BMC genomics · 2020Article
- New Insights Into the Evolutionary History of Melatonin Receptors in Vertebrates, With Particular Focus on Teleosts.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2020Review
- Demystifying Circalunar and Diel Rhythmicity in Acropora digitifera under Constant Dim Light.iScience · 2019Article
- Diel patterning in the bacterial community associated with the sea anemoneEcology and evolution · 2019Article
- Transcriptional remodelling upon light removal in a model cnidarian: Losses and gains in gene expression.Molecular ecology · 2019Article
- Article
- The origins and evolution of sleep.The Journal of experimental biology · 2018Review
- Transcriptome-wide analysis of differential gene expression in response to light:dark cycles in a model cnidarian.Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part D, Genomics & proteomics · 2018Article
- The Jellyfish Cassiopea Exhibits a Sleep-like State.Current biology : CB · 2017Article
- Planarian finds time(less) to fight infection.Virulence · 2017Article
- Cas9-mediated excision ofDevelopment (Cambridge, England) · 2017Article
- Daily cycle in oxygen consumption by the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis Stephenson.Biology open · 2016Article
- An option space for early neural evolution.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- Profiling molecular and behavioral circadian rhythms in the non-symbiotic sea anemone Nematostella vectensis.Scientific reports · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe primary hormone of the vertebrate pineal gland, melatonin, has been identified broadly throughout the eukaryotes. While the role for melatonin in cyclic behavior via interactions with the circadian clock has only been reported in vertebrates, comparative research has shown that the transcription-translation loops of the animal circadian clock likely date to the cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor, leaving open significant questions about the evolutionary origin of melatonin signaling in circadian behavior by interacting with the molecular clock.
resultsExpression of melatonin in adult anemones showed peak expression at the end of light period (zeitgeber time (ZT) = 12) when cultured under diel conditions, coinciding with expression of genes and enzyme activity for members of the melatonin synthesis pathway (tryptophan hydroxylase and hydroxyindol-O-methyltransferase), which also showed rhythmic expression. During embryogenesis and juvenile stages, melatonin showed cyclic oscillations in concentration, peaking in midday. Spatial (in situ hybridization) and quantitative (real-time PCR) transcription of clock genes during development of N. vectensis showed these 'clock' genes are expressed early in the development, prior to rhythmic oscillations, suggesting functions independent of a function in the circadian clock. Finally, time-course studies revealed that animals transferred from diel conditions to constant darkness lose circadian expression for most of the clock genes within 4 days, which can be reset by melatonin supplementation.
conclusionsOur results support an ancient role for melatonin in the circadian behavior of animals by showing cyclic expression of this hormone under diel conditions, light-dependent oscillations in genes in the melatonin synthesis pathway, and the function of melatonin in initiating expression of circadian clock genes in the cnidarian N. vectensis. The differences in expression melatonin and the circadian clock gene network in the adult stage when compared with developmental stages of N. vectensis suggests new research directions to characterize stage-specific mechanisms of circadian clock function in animals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.