A mechanosensory pathway to the Drosophila circadian clock

Journal
Science
Volume
343
Date
January 2014
Issue
6170
Pages
525-528
Full Article
Simoni A
Wolfgang W
Topping MP
Kavlie RG
Stanewsky R
Albert JT
Abstract

Circadian clocks attune the physiology of virtually all living organisms to the diurnal cycles of their environments. In metazoan animals, multiple sensory input pathways have been linked to clock synchronization with the environmental cycle (entrainment). Extrinsic entrainment cues include light and temperature. We show that (12-hour:12-hour) cycles of vibration and silence (VS) are sufficient to synchronize the daily locomotor activity of wild-type Drosophila melanogaster. Behavioral synchronization to VS cycles required a functional clock and functional chordotonal organs and was accompanied by phase-shifts of the daily oscillations of PERIOD protein concentrations in brain clock neurons. The feedback from mechanosensory—and particularly, proprioceptive—organs may help an animal to keep its circadian clock in sync with its own, stimulus-induced activities.