Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Circadian Entrainment of Drosophila Melanogaster
Published on: June 3, 2020
The cryptochromes
1Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, 621 Charles Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA. clin@mcdb.ucla.edu
Abstract:
Cryptochromes are photoreceptors that regulate entrainment by light of the circadian clock in plants and animals. They also act as integral parts of the central circadian oscillator in animal brains and as receptors controlling photomorphogenesis in response to blue or ultraviolet (UV-A) light in plants. Cryptochromes are probably the evolutionary descendents of DNA photolyases, which are light-activated DNA-repair enzymes, and are classified into three groups -- plant cryptochromes, animal cryptochromes, and CRY-DASH proteins. Cryptochromes and photolyases have similar three-dimensional structures, characterized by an alpha/beta domain and a helical domain. The structure also includes a chromophore, flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). The FAD-access cavity of the helical domain is the catalytic site of photolyases, and it is predicted also to be important in the mechanism of cryptochromes.
Related Concept Videos
Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
Channel Rhodopsins
Rhodopsins belong to the family of cell surface proteins called G-protein coupled receptors,...
Lampbrush Chromosomes
LBCs are made up of two pairs of conjugating homologous chromatids. Each chromatid consists of alternatively positioned regions of condensed-inactive chromatin and loosely placed-active side loops, which can be contracted and extended. The loops resemble the...
Position-effect Variegation
Polytene Chromosomes
