设计植物的昼夜时钟以适应度,作为在不断变化的地球上确保农业生产力的战略

The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.

The biological clock is involved in many aspects of regulating complex physiology in all animals. It was in 1935 when German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning, discovered the existence of circadian rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the internal molecular mechanisms behind the circadian clock remained a mystery until 1984, when Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered the expression of the Per gene oscillating over a 24-hour cycle. In subsequent...

Crop cultivation has a long history in human civilization, with records showing the cultivation of cereal plants beginning at around 8000 BC. This early plant breeding was developed primarily to provide a steady supply of food.

Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.

Every organism has an optimum temperature range within which healthy growth and physiological functioning can occur. At the ends of this range, there will be a minimum and maximum temperature that interrupt biological processes.

Circadian rhythms are cyclic changes that are crucial in plasma drug concentrations. Various standard circadian parameters, including core body temperature, heart rate, and other cardiovascular factors, directly impact disease states and the therapeutic response to drug therapy.
The time of drug administration is an important factor to consider, as it can influence the toxic dose of a drug. For example, a study conducted by Prins et al. in 1997 examined the effects of the timing of...