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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Monitoring Cell-autonomous Circadian Clock Rhythms of Gene Expression Using Luciferase Bioluminescence Reporters
Published on: September 27, 2012
Requirement of mammalian Timeless for circadian rhythmicity
Jessica W Barnes1, Shelley A Tischkau, Jeffrey A Barnes
1Department of Cell and Structural Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Abstract:
Despite a central circadian role in Drosophila for the transcriptional regulator Timeless (dTim), the relevance of mammalian Timeless (mTim) remains equivocal. Conditional knockdown of mTim protein expression in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) disrupted SCN neuronal activity rhythms, and altered levels of known core clock elements. Full-length mTim protein (mTIM-fl) exhibited a 24-hour oscillation, where as a truncated isoform (mTIM-s) was constitutively expressed. mTIM-fl associated with the mammalian clock Period proteins (mPERs) in oscillating SCN cells. These data suggest that mTim is required for rhythmicity and is a functional homolog of dTim on the negative-feedback arm of the mammalian molecular clockwork.
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